Department for Transport

Railways: West Midlands

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) affordability and (b) quality of rail travel in (i) Coventry and (ii) the West Midlands.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government has frozen regulated rail fares in line with inflation for the seventh year in a row. The future introduction of HS2 will help improve the quality of rail travel across Coventry and the West Midlands, but there are initiatives that are making a real difference now: In May 2019, West Midlands Trains (WMT) introduced through services and longer trains between Leamington and Nuneaton via Coventry. WMT is investing £700million to introduce 180 brand new carriages and add 20,000 more peak hour seats into Birmingham in the next couple of years. Subject to the approval of Avanti’s proposal by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Walsall will receive its first direct Intercity West Coast services to London in 2021, while Coventry and the West Midlands are due to benefit from additional services on weekends from 2021, and earlier weekday morning services from December 2022. We are investing to provide additional carriages to increase capacity on CrossCountry (XC) services at Coventry and across the West Midlands from 2021.

Buses: Electric Vehicles

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2020 to Question 49803 on hydrogen buses, what funding his Department has provided to increase the use of battery electric buses; and how many battery electric buses have been purchased through that funding.

Rachel Maclean: The Department has provided funding to assist the purchase of low emission buses. Funding to date has been technology neutral, including, the ultra-low emission bus scheme (ULEBS) and the low emission bus scheme (LEBS). These provided successful bidders with £43,517,720 which was used to purchase 341 fully electric buses. In addition to this, the Department is currently considering its response to expressions of interest in a £50 million All-Electric Bus Town competition.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Tree Planting

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 52100, who fulfils the role of HS2 independent inspector; when that appointment was made; what procurement method was used in making that appointment; and where the independent inspector's reports are published.

Andrew Stephenson: The Independent Assessor of Plant Material role is undertaken through Aecom Infrastructure and Environment Limited. There are a number of qualified individuals that support that contract. The contract was awarded following a competitive tender process and for a period of two years from 23rd January 2017. The Contract has since been extended until 31st March 2021. The reports are not published, as their intent is to help provide an independent view of plant quality to help ensure that planting is successful, and are not designed to be a public record of the status of the planting that is taking place.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Environment Protection

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 52101, within what parameters are potential breaches of (a) wildlife and (b) environmental protection legislation investigated by HS2 Ltd.

Andrew Stephenson: Every report or allegation of a breach of wildlife or environmental protection legislation is investigated to assess whether a breach has taken place. Allegations may come from a wide range of sources, including direct correspondence, phone calls to the HS2 helpline, media reports, tweets and campaign websites. There are no discretionary parameters as to whether a report is investigated or not.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Environment Protection

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 52101 on High Speed 2 Railway Line: Environment Protection, how many credible potential breaches of (a) wildlife and (b) environmental protection legislation have been recorded using HS2 Ltd's process of live recording and reporting of breaches.

Andrew Stephenson: HS2 Ltd’s live reporting over the past 5 years has recorded 93 possible breaches of Wildlife legislation, and 307 possible breaches of Environmental Protection legislation. HS2 takes credible potential breaches very seriously and each is investigated as necessary with the involvement of the relevant statutory authority where applicable.

Department for Transport: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The information requested is as follows: kWhElectricityNatural GasOil201531,382,31537,923,2701,779,302201640,726,07741,017,6312,046,502201736,791,49438,266,1041,298,068201837,578,39837,105,3471,063,723201933,752,59433,677,3361,665,5762020 (to 31-03-20)9,404,30310,405,464645,728

Jet Zero Council

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who the members of the Jet Zero Council will be.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government is working on the details of the Jet Zero Council and will look to engage with stakeholders shortly to agree the Council membership, drawing as broadly as possible across airlines, airports, aerospace manufacturers, fuel suppliers, and environmental groups. Further details and the Council’s Terms of Reference will be announced in due course.

Driving Tests: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to restart (a) practical driving and (b) driving theory tests for all pupils.

Rachel Maclean: As the health and safety of staff and customers is key, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working closely with the Department for Transport to prepare for a safe return to testing. It will announce details of resumption in due course.

Driving Instruction: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential level of safety of driving instructors wearing PPE (a) when checking pupils' facial expressions and reactions and (b) in other situations when teaching.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has carried out a risk assessment for driving examiners conducting driving tests. It is for instructors to make sure their face coverings or PPE do not impact upon safety during driving lessons with their pupils. Driving instructors must ensure they are able to fulfil their responsibilities as an instructor, and accompanying driver, safely whilst wearing appropriate PPE. Professional instructors should be able to adapt their teaching to ensure pupils’ comprehension and correct reaction whilst learning safely. The DVSA would encourage all driving instructors to keep up to date with the driving instructors’ National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP) website for advice and guidance: http://www.n-a-s-p.co.uk/

Driving Tests: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Pearson VUE on restarting driving theory tests in a socially distanced way.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to resuming theory tests for all candidates as soon as it is safe to do so and in line with Government advice. Following public health advice, the DVSA and Pearson VUE are preparing new processes for delivering theory tests. This will include protective screens, two metre social distancing and appropriate protective equipment. The DVSA will make further announcements on GOV.UK as soon as possible.

Driving Tests: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is seeking a refund from Pearson VUE for the non-delivery of driving tests as a result of its closure of test centres.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is not seeking a refund from Pearson VUE for the non-delivery of theory tests as the contract the DVSA has with Pearson VUE is volume based. This means the service arrangements are that the DVSA pays for each theory test delivered by Pearson VUE.

Driving Tests: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will issue guidance on whether driving examiners should wear face coverings.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is reviewing and updating the guidance for driving examiners about carrying out driving tests. This includes things like the PPE they need to wear, greeting candidates and cleaning equipment such as sat navs and tablets. Further guidance will be issued as soon as possible.

Driving Instruction: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on ensuring that the DVSA has effective procedures in place so that driving instructors are able to match refunds to pupils.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has closed its driving test booking system as all tests are currently suspended other than for emergency tests for critical workers. The DVSA is developing plans to resume its testing services and will adopt a phased return to testing.The DVSA will email approved driving instructors (ADI) and candidates when the Government is confident that it is safe to restart driving tests. ADIs and candidates will be asked to go online and choose their preferred test date and time. Candidates who wish to cancel their practical test can email the DVSA and request a full refund.

Driving Instruction: Coronavirus

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the insurance sector on covering driving instructors for claims made in relation to accidents when the instructor was (a) wearing PPE and (b) had (i) installed a protective screen between themselves and their pupils and (ii) made other health protection modifications.

Rachel Maclean: Driving instructors must ensure they are able to fulfil their responsibilities as an instructor, and accompanying driver, safely whilst wearing appropriate PPE. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) would encourage all driving instructors to keep up to date with the driving instructors’ National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP) website for advice and guidance: http://www.n-a-s-p.co.uk/ In line with guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Public Health England (PHE), the DVSA does not recommend unapproved protective screens are fitted in vehicles. The driver, and for a learner driver the accompanying driver, has a responsibility to ensure the vehicle and its driver are able to comply with the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, as amended. Any modifications made to a vehicle must not prevent compliance with these regulations, for example, ensuring that the driver still has a clear view to the front.

Taxis: Licensing

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Vehicle Hire Licensing issues, published on 12 February 2019, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to enable national minimum standards in taxi licensing that would enable greater enforcement powers for licensing officers.

Rachel Maclean: The Government will continue to engage with the sector on our plans for reforming the regulation of taxis and private hire vehicles, including options to introduce new legislation. The Department is supporting licensing authorities to make use of their extensive existing powers to safeguard passengers through statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards, which will be issued shortly. The Department will consult on updated best practice guidance on other matters later this year.

Bus Services: Coronavirus

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made in developing an urgent package of financial support for coach travel businesses affected by the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

Rachel Maclean: We are encouraging coach operators to make use of the wide range of support measures the Chancellor announced. These amount to £330 billion of loans and guarantees for businesses. We are continuing to engage with the coach sector to understand what the ongoing risks and issues are, and how these could be addressed in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

Driving Instruction: Coronavirus

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the latest guidance is that his Department has issued to (a) driving instructors and (b) motoring schools on teaching non-key workers during the covid-19 outbreak; whether he plans to relax restrictions on that activity in the next month; and if he will make a statement.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working closely with the Department for Transport to prepare for a safe return to testing. It will announce details of resumption in due course. The DVSA is committed to resuming testing services for all candidates as soon as it is safe to do so and in line with Government advice.The DVSA’s Chief Executive issued further guidance on resuming testing to approved driving instructors, motorcycle training schools, and vocational driving instructors on 15 June 2020. This guidance is published on GOV.UK and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-letter-from-dvsa-chief-executive-to-driver-and-rider-trainers-about-restarting-instruction-and-tests?utm_source=69d5d459-d250-4458-9252-9485392b0d13&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

Aircraft: Coronavirus

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there has been a review of the safety of air conditioning systems in commercial aircraft to reduce the risk of those systems spreading covid-19 among passengers.

Kelly Tolhurst: Air conditioning systems on modern aircraft filter cabin air every few minutes through High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. These filters are very effective at capturing airborne microbes in the filtered air, and when coupled with the drawn in fresh air, can help to mitigate the longer range risk of transmission. A review is being undertaken for the other known routes of transmission.

Public Transport: Coronavirus

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with sight loss can safely access public transport while covid-19 social distancing measures are in place.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government remains committed to delivering inclusive transport for all passengers. Our expectation is that transport operators should continue to assist disabled passengers who need assistance, including those with sight loss, as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. I made this clear in my open letter to the rail industry on 8 April 2020. I am also meeting regularly with key disability stakeholders, including Guide Dogs, to hear directly from them about the experiences of disabled people using transport. This means we will be able to take action quickly if we find that passengers are not receiving the assistance to which they are entitled. The Department has published guidance for transport operators to help organisations, agencies and others (such as self-employed transport providers) understand how to provide safer workplaces and services for themselves, their workers and passengers across all modes of private and public transport. The guidance makes it clear operators need to consider accessibility at every stage of the passenger journey and that passenger assistance should be provided when requested. Service providers have duties to ensure individuals with protected characteristics, such as disabled people, the elderly and pregnant women are able to access transport networks and that everyone should be supported to access transport and comply with social distancing.

Railways: Coronavirus

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the condition on the additional funding to TfL that Government officials will attend TfL board meetings, whether Government officials will attend the board meetings of each train operator with a franchise agreement with his Department and report back on the use of additional resources provided to them in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Secretary of State has not appointed an external advisor to train operator boards and has no immediate plans to do so. The Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) give the Department enhanced controls over financial decisions made by train operators. This includes a formal process of monthly budget reviews, allowing additional financial scrutiny of operators, with the ability for the Department to deem expenditure disallowable, in which case the train operator would have to bear the costs.  The funding and financing package for TfL amounts to £1.6 billion.

Taxis: Coronavirus

Sir Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2020 to Question 59192 on Taxis: Coronavirus, which part of that guidance applies to the licensed taxi trade; whether black cabs are allowed to pick up passengers from international airports serving London; and if he will make a statement.

Rachel Maclean: The Coronavirus (COVID-19): how to self-isolate when you travel to the UK guidance instructs those arriving in the UK and required to self-isolate to only use public transport (which includes taxis and private hire vehicles) if they have no other option. Passengers are advised in the Coronavirus (COVID-19): safer travel guidance for passengers that a face covering should be worn when using a taxi or private hire vehicle and that they may be refused carriage if they do not wear one. Face coverings should also be worn in other enclosed spaces where it is difficult to maintain social distancing, for example, at stations, interchanges and ports.

Northern Trains: Coronavirus

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Answer of 8 June 2020 to Question 49667, on Northern Rail: Coronavirus, how many additional cleaners have been employed by ISS to clean train stations managed by Northern Trains since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

Chris Heaton-Harris: ISS is in the process of recruiting more cleaners, who will all be in position in July. The total number of additional cleaners it will employ to carry out touch point cleaning with its new enhanced cleaning chemical will be 25.

P and O Ferries: Coronavirus

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2020 to Question 55949 on P&O Ferries: Coronavirus, whether he has held discussions with representatives from P&O Ferries on the implication for seafarers in Hull of that company's proposals for (a) making redundant full-time Ratings on the Pride of Hull and (b) retaining agency crew from the Philippines to work on that vessel.

Kelly Tolhurst: I have met with both P&O Ferries and the maritime unions to discuss P&O’s redundancy proposal. As P&O remains in the consultation phase its proposals have not been finalised.

Ferries: Freight

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 51906 on Ferries: Freight, what recent estimate has made of the value of the Public Service Obligation agreements in place with operators on ferry routes from (a) Hull, (b) Dover and (c)  other eligible routes from a UK port.

Kelly Tolhurst: Payments on PSO routes are calculated using actual revenues each week, so final payments will depend on performance of both the freight and passenger market. Results for weeks to date are currently being assessed and final award values for those weeks are not yet known; details of the actual subsidy amounts paid will be published in due course. The estimated values of the PSO Agreements at the point of contract award were published in the Official Journal of the European Union and were as follows:RouteOperatorEstimated value at contract awardPortsmouth-SantanderBrittany Ferries£1,508,265Portsmouth-CherbourgBrittany Ferries£1,042,551Poole-BilbaoBrittany Ferries£370,395Dover-DunkerqueDFDS£3,068,766Dover-CalaisDFDS£3,770,838Folkestone-CoquellesEurotunnel£3,431,863Dover-CalaisP&O£1,173,915Cairnryan-LarneP&O£3,581,685Tilbury-ZeebruggeP&O£2,053,206Teesport-EuropoortP&O£1,098,369Hull-EuropoortP&O£3,504,249 *Hull-ZeebruggeP&O£1,842,210Heysham-WarrenpointSeatruck£849,159Rotterdam-KillingholmeStena£2,018,547Cairnryan-BelfastStena£1,077,597Harwich-RotterdamStena£1,822,365Harwich-Hoek van HollandStena£1,608,003 * The estimate for Hull-Europoort was later revised to £4,779,369.

P and O Ferries: Contracts

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 51906 on P&O Ferries, how much recognised revenue P&O Ferries has received from roll-on roll-off ferry services operated under Public Service Agreements with his Department from (a) Hull, (b) Dover, (c) Tilbury, (d) Teesport, (e) Cairnryan and (f) Larne ports from 11 May 2020 to date.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department holds information on revenues received, but will not release it as it is commercially sensitive and confidential. Details of subsidy amounts paid out under the PSO Agreements will be published in due course.

P and O Ferries: Coronavirus

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with representatives from the UK Chamber of Shipping’s Ferry Recovery Group on P&O Ferries’ plans for redundancies of full time seafarers in (a) Hull and (b) Dover.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Chamber of Shipping’s Ferry Recovery Group is an industry forum and does not have government participation. I and Senior Officials have had individual and group calls with a number of ferry operators and have regular dialogue with the UK Chamber of Shipping where views from the Ferry Recovery Group can be conveyed.

Ferries: Freight

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 51908 on Ferries: Freight, if he will publish the names of the external experts that provided (a) legal, (b) technical and (c) financial advice on the design of the Public Service Obligation Agreements; and what the cost to the public purse was of that advice.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cycling: Coronavirus

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to (a) promote national cycling safety campaigns and (b) issue guidance to local authorities on cycling safety in response to the increase in cycling due to the covid-19 outbreak.

Chris Heaton-Harris: On the 9th May the Government announced a £2 billion package of funding for cycling and walking over the next five years. The Government will say more in the summer about its plans to boost cycling and improve cycle safety. The Government has issued new statutory guidance to local authorities encouraging them to take measures to reallocate road space to people walking and cycling. It has also introduced a £225 million Emergency Active Travel Fund, available to local authorities this financial year for immediate measures to improve cycle safety including new cycle lanes.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Carers

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will place in the Library a list of the workplace benefits that his Department provides to its staff with caring responsibilities.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department recognises the importance of supporting employees with caring responsibilities. Our aim is to enable individuals to undertake their caring responsibilities while feeling engaged and productive in the work they do. In order to support this, the Department offers employees benefits and flexibilities. This includes flexible working arrangements, time off/leave, access to supportive programmes and networks, and Coronavirus specific Special Leave with pay. All requests for flexible working arrangements or non-statutory leave are considered in the context of business need. We are responding to this question in relation to carers, as defined in our Carers Charter, as anyone who cares for a friend or family member who, due to illness, disability, a mental health problem, or an addiction, cannot cope without their support.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department's share of the Official Development Assistance budget will be reduced in the event of a decrease in GNI.

Nadhim Zahawi: The UK has a legal commitment to spend 0.7% of its gross national income (GNI) each year on Official Development Assistance (ODA). HM Treasury allocates ODA budgets to Departments and is responsible for decisions on changes to these budgets.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is signing new funding agreements for projects funded by Official Development Assistance.

Nadhim Zahawi: In the short term, we are agreeing our future work in close cooperation with other Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending Departments, such as Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, to ensure the best value for money and that decisions are taken in the national interest.

Hydrogen: Alternative Fuels

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what research his Department has undertaken on the technical and regulatory requirements of replacing natural gas with hydrogen to help the UK meet its decarbonisation targets.

Kwasi Kwarteng: Hydrogen is one of a number of options with the potential to play an important role in decarbonising heat, including heat networks, heat pumps, hydrogen and biogas. Further work is needed to assess the safety and feasibility case and better understand the costs and benefits of using hydrogen in place of methane in the gas grid. We are working with industry to define and take forward a full programme of work to achieve this. The Government is also currently investing up to £121m in a range of innovation programmes to explore and develop the potential of low carbon hydrogen for end uses sectors. This includes £25m on the Hy4Heat programme which is seeking to investigate if it is technically possible and safe to replace methane with hydrogen in appliances for residential and commercial buildings and evaluate the likely costs and performance.

Hydrogen: Boilers

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department’s policy is on mandating hydrogen ready boilers.

Kwasi Kwarteng: Hydrogen could play a key role in eliminating our contribution to climate change by 2050 and is one of the options being explored to decarbonise heat in the UK alongside heat pumps, heat networks and biogas. Further work is required to fully test and assess the potential of hydrogen as an option for decarbonising heating. Prototype ‘hydrogen-ready boilers’ are being developed under the £25m BEIS Hy4Heat programme. This programme is seeking to investigate if it is technically possible and safe to replace methane with hydrogen in appliances for residential and commercial buildings and evaluate the likely costs and performance. The programme is due to be completed in 2021, and the Department will be reviewing the outputs from this technical work as it progresses. On 12 June the Department published a Call for Evidence on Energy-related Products. This consultation invites views on how to maximise the energy savings potential of boilers and alternative heating systems, and if this would help bring to market low-carbon heating technologies including hydrogen.

Natural Gas: Carbon Emissions

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department’s policy is on hydrogen and biomethane blending with natural gas.

Kwasi Kwarteng: Biomethane is currently injected into the gas grid, supported in part by the Renewable Heat Incentive. The Government is currently consulting on the creation of a Green Gas Support Scheme to increase the amount of biomethane in the grid. Blending low carbon hydrogen with natural gas has the potential to lower carbon emissions. The HyDeploy project has been commissioned by Gas Network Operators to investigate the option of blending up to 20% hydrogen with natural gas in the gas grid. The Health and Safety Executive have granted an exemption to the current Gas Safety and Management Regulation to the hydrogen content limit of 0.1% for the duration of the HyDeploy project. This is subject to strict safety arrangements being in place. BEIS will continue to pay close attention to the results from this project, and will take these into account in any future policy development.

Carbon Emissions

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of a whole energy systems approach to reaching the UK’s decarbonisation targets.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government is committed to delivering clean growth and reaching our net zero target. We are already making good progress in decarbonising the power sector. More than half of our electricity (54%) was generated from low-carbon sources in 2019 and renewables’ share of generation now stands at a record 37%. Meanwhile, the use of coal in our electricity mix has dropped from 39% in 2012 to just 2% in 2019. Recently we celebrated a two-month milestone of coal-free power generation. We must continue to embrace the opportunities offered by technology to accelerate the transition to a cleaner future including innovations in energy storage technologies, smart and no-waste electricity grids, zero-emission vehicles, and eco-friendly buildings.That is why, at the Spring Budget, we announced an ambitious support package worth over £2bn for our low carbon economy, including £270m new exchequer funding for heat networks, £100m for heat pumps and biomass and a commitment to at least double the size of the Energy Innovation Programme. The Government recognises the need to fully consider the complex interactions between different sectors of the economy, as it progresses on its ambitious programme of decarbonisation, and the potential benefits that systems-based thinking can bring to this.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Nadhim Zahawi: This table shows the energy consumption of the Department at the 1 Victoria Street building for each of the last five financial years, and for 2020/21 to the end of May 2020. Year (f/y)2015/162016/172017/182018/192019/202020/21Electricity (kWh)5,276,2615,120,2935,120,9954,935,7804,765,755484,023Gas (kWh)2,048,6222,279,4952,650,6402,374,9522,610,826189,726Electricity - Solar PV (kWh)1,4331,3771,8942,1062,406295* * Does not include data for May 2020 as this is unavailable

Energy: Social Rented Housing

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the reports submitted to him by local authorities in 2019 under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995.

Kwasi Kwarteng: In 2019 BEIS introduced standardised digital platform in 2019 which was used for Home Energy Conservation Act responses to be collected and collated in consistent way. In addition, local authorities are required under the legislation to publish their report. BEIS is exploring options on the best use of the submitted data, particularly to inform policy thinking on energy efficiency, and to build an ongoing picture of local and national energy efficiency policy delivery.

Energy: Social Rented Housing

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to provide funding for energy efficiency projects highlighted in the reports submitted to him by local authorities in 2019 under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995.

Kwasi Kwarteng: We are supporting local authorities, local areas and local economies through a range programmes. Our Local Energy programme is supporting Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), local authorities and communities in England to play a leading role in decarbonisation and clean growth. Almost £20 million has been invested and the programme has funded a range of measures designed to build local capacity and capability and encourage joined-up working between local areas, investors and central government, including:Five Local Energy Hubs, which have been established across England to provide local authorities and LEPs with access to expertise to help develop and secure investment in low carbon projects;Good practice guidance, tools and resources for use by local authorities and LEPs; andAn online communications platform for local authorities and LEPs to share information and learn from each other. In addition to direct funding, local authorities can voluntarily participate under the ‘LA Flex’ mechanism of ECO. This allows local authorities to identify low income and vulnerable households in their area and refer them to the larger energy suppliers, who have an obligation target to deliver energy efficiency measures under ECO.

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 51817 on Tidal Power: Swansea Bay, if he will set out the exact range of capital assumptions made by his Department, in British pounds, for the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon value for money assessment.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The capital cost assumptions used in the Value for Money Assessment of the proposed programme of lagoons[1] were derived from information shared under a non-disclosure agreement between Tidal Lagoon (Swansea Bay) Plc, Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd and the Department. The Department believes the non-disclosure agreement still applies in this case and the information cannot be released.[1] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/swansea-bay-tidal-lagoon-value-for-money-assessment

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 51817 on Tidal Power: Swansea Bay, what range of hurdle rates, comparable to those more established renewable energy technologies, such as solar PV, onshore wind and large hydropower, were used for the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon value for money assessment.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The hurdle rates applied across the portfolio of tidal lagoons in the Department’s value for money assessment[1] are shown in Table 1. The hurdle rates for other low carbon technologies estimated at the time of the value for money assessment are shown in Table 2. Table 1: Range of hurdle rates applied to proposed programme of tidal lagoons[2]Hurdle Rate ScenarioHurdle rate (real terms, pre-tax)Low6.2%Central8.0%High9.2% Table 2: Selected hurdle rates for other low carbon technologies (up to date at time the assessment was undertaken)[3]TechnologyHurdle rate (real terms, pre-tax)Onshore wind6.7%Offshore wind8.9%Solar PV (>5MW)6.5%Nuclear8.9%Gas with CCUS (first of a kind)11.3%Hydro (>5MW)6.9%   [1] Available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/swansea-bay-tidal-lagoon-value-for-money-assessment[2] Source: BEIS commercial advisory[3] Source: BEIS Electricity Generation Costs Report (2016), available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-electricity-generation-costs-november-2016

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason a 35-year contract for difference assumption was used for the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon value for money assessment when the project's estimated lifespan is 120 years.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Department considered a range of factors in coming to this conclusion. These included the proposed design life of project, the extent to which bill payers should accept operating life risk, a rapidly evolving energy market, and the falling cost of other renewable technologies.

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what value assumptions his Department made in the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project value for money assessment for years 36 to 120 of the project's lifespan, beyond the life of the 35-year contract for difference assumption.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The key categories of assumptions used are listed in Annex B of the Department’s value for money assessment for the proposed programme of tidal lagoons.[1] Test 2a of the assessment considered levelised cost, expressed in £/MWh terms, of the proposed lagoons over their full assumed asset life of 120 years. Test 2b (costs of the GB power system) and Test 3 (household bills) assessed the proposed lagoons over the period to 2050. In these cases the costs of the lagoon were spread over the full 120 year asset life. This means that for a tidal lagoon commissioning in 2035, only 15 years’ worth of costs will have been factored in and compared to any benefits occurring over those same 15 years. This approach avoids a mismatch between costs and benefits in the value for money assessment. [1] Available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/swansea-bay-tidal-lagoon-value-for-money-assessment

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assumptions were made in the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project value for money assessment on the number of green jobs that would be created by the fleet of tidal lagoon projects, starting at Swansea Bay.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Department’s value for money assessment for the proposed programme of tidal lagoons[1] considered the wider benefits, including the value of jobs supported. The estimated number of direct jobs underlying this part of the assessment peaked at around 18,000 FTE in any one year across the lagoon fleet. The number of direct jobs maintained across the lagoon fleet once construction had completed was estimated at around 1,000 FTE per year. Indirect jobs were also considered, with a range tested around 2 indirect jobs per direct job.[1] Available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/swansea-bay-tidal-lagoon-value-for-money-assessment

Electric Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the production of (a) electric bicycles and (b) scooters.

Nadhim Zahawi: Through Made Smarter, the UK’s national industrial digitalisation programme, the Government is investing up to £167 million to help manufacturers to adopt and innovate in industrial digital technologies that will increase productivity and competitiveness across the sector. We have also invested £350 million in seven High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres across the UK, which are supporting manufacturers to bring new technologies to market, and we will be investing an additional £600 million by the end of 2023. As part of the Future of Transport Grand Challenge we are working with the Department for Transport to help ensure firms, like e-bike and scooter manufacturers, have access to the right supply of talented labour and the right business support, including access to finance. The Department for Transport is also working to create a flexible regulatory framework for micro mobility vehicles. Through funding to support the uptake of e-bikes and e-cargo bikes, we are helping to create domestic demand, which is essential to growing the UK’s e-bike manufacturing base.

Post Offices: Closures

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post offices have been temporarily closed in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) each region of England since 1 April 2020.

Paul Scully: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. As such, the number of Post Offices which are temporarily closed across the UK is an operational matter for Post Office Limited.

Ceramics: Manufacturing Industries

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will invite the ceramics sector to be part of one of the five Industrial Strategy Taskforces.

Nadhim Zahawi: The ceramics sector is a valued part of the UK economy. The recovery roundtables that my Hon friend refers to are intensive engagements and it is important they are focused. Inevitably, there is a limit on the number of organisations that can join. Attendees do not encompass the full range of stakeholders that the Department engages with, and we welcome written comments from anyone that wishes to share their views. We also continue to hold extensive engagement that will feed into this important work with stakeholders from across the economy, outside of the recovery roundtbales. I would value the views of the ceramics sector as part of this process.

Ceramics: Manufacturing Industries

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to provide support to the ceramics industry to help that industry to decarbonise.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department works closely with the ceramics industry to support its efforts to decarbonise. Manufacturers of ceramics will soon be able to access the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, a scheme to help businesses with high energy use to reduce their emissions and energy costs by investing in clean technologies. The first phase will open for applications this summer, supporting industrial energy efficiency projects, as well as feasibility and engineering studies. Ceramics firms can also access the Industrial Heat Recovery Support Programme. This grant funding programme helps manufacturing businesses to identify and invest in opportunities for recovering and reusing industrial waste heat. A total of £18 million is available to support industrial heat recovery projects across England and Wales.

Manufacturing Industries: Contracts for Services

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of companies that have not (a) complied with manufacturing contracts and (b) honoured the cost of orders made as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department does not have assessments of the number of companies that have not (a) complied with manufacturing contracts and (b) honoured the cost of orders made as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the Government encourages all companies to honour their contracts and orders where possible. We are seeing examples of both good and bad payment practice from large businesses as a result of Covid-19. The Small Business Commissioner has written to individual businesses who are protecting themselves by holding back payments to suppliers and has urged them to rethink their strategy to ensure their small business suppliers can survive the negative impacts of Covid-19. Conversely, the Small Business Commissioner has written to thank those businesses showing leadership by ensuring their smallest suppliers are paid more quickly, recognising the positive steps that they are taking.

Aircraft

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of supporting the scrappage of older civil aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

Nadhim Zahawi: We recently received an industry proposal on a scrappage scheme for older civil large passenger aircraft and are assessing its potential impact on the UK aerospace and aviation industries. UK airlines and aerospace manufacturers have already been boosted by £2.16 billion from the Covid Corporate Financing Facility. In addition, UK Export Finance expects to provide £3.5 billion of support for UK aerospace exports over the next 18 months. We also continue to invest heavily in technology to make our aviation sector greener and more sustainable, through our co-funded £3.9 billion Aerospace Technology Institute programme and £300 million Future Flight Challenge.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Redundancy

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether businesses are eligible to use funds for furlough for redundancy payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Paul Scully: Employees who are dismissed due to redundancy and who satisfy certain qualifying conditions are statutorily entitled to a lump sum from their employer, based on their age, length of service and contractual weekly earnings, subject to a statutory upper limit. As per the latest updates to the guidance for the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, grants cannot be used to substitute redundancy payments. Please visit the GOV.UK page for updates to the scheme: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

Aerospace Industry: Sutherland

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the plans of the (a) French Government (b) German Government and (c) US Administration to support their domestic aerospace industries; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing support for the aerospace industry in Sutherland.

Nadhim Zahawi: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 June 2020 to Question 58050. We continually assess the impact on global aerospace supply chains of other countries. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a host of measures to help businesses through this period, including those in the aerospace sector, with £330 billion worth of Government support for businesses across the UK. The Government will continue to support all those affected by the crisis, in all parts of the UK. We also co-fund aerospace research and development through the £3.9 billion Aerospace Technology Institute, as well as the £300 million Future Flight programme. In addition, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has supported 8 million people, emergency loan schemes have awarded billions of pounds of support, and we have a world-leading export credit body that is expecting to support £3.5 billion of aviation exports over the next 18 months. We will continue to support the UK aerospace industry to get back on its feet, and back into a position of growth, protecting high paid jobs across the length and breadth of the UK.

Working Conditions: Coronavirus

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government has contributed to international research on working conditions during covid-19 similar to the report of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions entitled, Living, working and COVID-19, published on 6 May 2020.

Paul Scully: The Department continues to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on working conditions in the UK and internationally. We are currently contributing to domestic research on changes to working practices in the UK which will be published in due course.

Conditions of Employment: Adoption

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to extend employment protection rights for pregnant women to people that are in the process of adopting children.

Paul Scully: Pregnancy is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Pregnant women also get additional consideration under Health and Safety legislation because of the different risks they may face in the workplace. The Government has no current plans to extend these rights to people who are in the process of adopting children. Employees looking to adopt are already entitled to paid time off to attend adoption appointments. They are also entitled to up to 52 weeks Adoption Leave. When on Adoption Leave, they have additional redundancy protections which equate to those for Maternity Leave. Following consultation last year, the Government has committed to extend the redundancy protection which a parent currently enjoys while on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave, for a period for six months following a return to work. We will bring these measures forward as soon as there is an appropriate opportunity.

Public Houses: Coronavirus

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when pubs without outdoor space will be allowed to reopen.

Paul Scully: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out a roadmap in his speech on the 10 May outlining steps, or ‘phases’, to get people in the UK back to work in a way that is safe. The roadmap sets out our ambition to reopen sections of the hospitality industry, including pubcs, in Step Three of our strategy, provided they are safe and enforce social distancing. Any decision to reopen this sector will be subject to the scientific advice at the time. We are working at pace to develop safe ways for pubs to reopen at the earliest opportunity it is safe to do so, through our pubs and restaurants taskforce, and this work is progressing well.

Small Business Grants Fund

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to enable local authorities to extend the discretion to distribute surplus Business Grant funds to businesses that are (a) not covered by existing discretions and (b) are above rateable value thresholds.

Paul Scully: The Government has announced a package of support for business to help with their ongoing costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. This includes £12.33 billion to local authorities in England to support businesses under the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. As at 14 June, £10.36 billion has been paid out to over 844,000 business properties across the two schemes. On 1 May, the Government announced a further £617 million available, in the form of the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund, for local authorities to support small businesses that are not eligible for business rates or rates relief and are therefore not in scope of the existing grant schemes. Local authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this scheme, and have discretion to pay grants to businesses based on local economic need – within the national guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-business-support-grant-funding Local authorities will need to manage their schemes effectively to stay within their Discretionary Grants Fund allocation. As with other business support measures, Ministers continue to keep the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund under review, monitoring roll-out and level of demand to assess how to ensure businesses and local economies are best supported.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of employees that are furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that are being consulted on redundancy.

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses in receipt of grant funding under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that are consulting their workforces on redundancy.

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses that are in receipt of grant funding under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that have made employees redundant to date.

Paul Scully: The Department does not hold statistics on the number of employees that are furloughed who are being consulted for redundancies or those businesses using the job retention scheme that are planning or have already made employees redundant.The legal position in relation to redundancy and dismissal remains the same whether or not an employee has been furloughed. Any redundancy process should be fair and reasonable with appropriate equalities considerations. Employees with the necessary qualifying service who believe that they have been unfairly selected for redundancy, or that the redundancy was unfair in some other way, may be able to complain to an employment tribunal.As per the latest updates to the guidance for the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, grants cannot be used to substitute redundancy payments. Please visit the gov.uk page for updates to the scheme: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.

Business: Coronavirus and Floods

Darren Henry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what additional steps his Department plans to take to support businesses that have been affected by both the covid-19 outbreak and the June 2020 floods.

Paul Scully: The Government has announced an extensive package of support for businesses to help with their ongoing business costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. The Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) have supported many thousands of small businesses with their ongoing business costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. In addition, on 1 May, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced that up to £617 million is being made available to Local Authorities in England to allow them to provide discretionary grants. The Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund (LADGF) is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs but not liable for business rates or rates reliefs. The SBGF, RHLGF and LADGF are just some of the measures the Department is working on to ensure there is immediate support for our local economies alongside our overall ambition to level up communities across the country. For more information on the SBGF, the RHLGF and the LADGF please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-grant-funding-guidance-for-businesses In order to be eligible for Government’s Flood Recovery Framework, including funding to supported flooded domestic and business properties, individual Local Authority areas had to have in excess of 25 residential properties and should have reported this data to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Spaceflight: USA

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement signed on 16 June 2020 will be published.

Amanda Solloway: The draft Agreement was signed by the US and UK governments on 16 June 2020 and will be subject to scrutiny and ratification by Parliament. It will be laid in Parliament after enabling legislation is in force, and the Agreement will be published as soon as practically possible thereafter.

Spaceflight: USA

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what consultation was undertaken with the UK-based commercial space industry prior to the signing of the US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement on 16 June 2020.

Amanda Solloway: Regular engagement with UK based commercial space industry was undertaken over a three-year period prior to the signing of the US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement. This included direct consultations with companies and presentations to industry groups. Companies provided valuable advice which informed the negotiations.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make public representations to the authorities in Saudi Arabia on the immediate and unconditional release of 13 women human rights defenders on trial for reportedly peaceful activism.

James Cleverly: We remain concerned about the continued detention of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Secretary raised our concerns about the ongoing detention of political detainees, including women's rights defenders with Saudi Ministers during his visit this year to Riyadh in March. We regularly raise areas of concern with the Saudi authorities at all levels, through Ministers, our Ambassador and the Embassy in Riyadh. We consistently underline the importance of political freedoms globally. This includes respect for the right to peaceful protest, the rule of law, and freedom of speech, the press, and assembly. We continue to raise concerns about individual cases regularly and monitor the situation closely.

Prisoners: Coronavirus

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help ensure the protection of human rights defenders imprisoned and at risk from covid-19.

Nigel Adams: The UK strongly supports human rights defenders worldwide to enable them to carry out their work safely and without fear. We regularly assess how we can enhance our ability to make a positive difference, including in the context of the increased risks posed by the Covid-19 outbreak.On 4 June, the UK joined human rights Ambassadors from six other European nations to issue a statement highlighting the importance of ensuring a safe enabling environment for human rights defenders. The statement made clear that states have a responsibility to ensure that any emergency powers in place to combat Covid-19 are not used as tools to repress civil society, marginal groups or populations as a whole.In July 2019, the UK set out its ongoing dedication to support and protect human right defenders in the document "UK Support for Human Rights Defenders". The publication makes clear that our diplomatic network will work with and alongside Non Governmental Organisation representatives and human rights defenders to address the challenges they face. This includes human rights defenders who are detained, on trial or imprisoned.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Brazil

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK’s Prosperity Fund programme in Brazil upholds the rights of indigenous communities living in the Amazon.

Nigel Adams: The Prosperity Fund programme in Brazil will support better public services, more sustainable energy and investment, and more efficient international trade. The programme is evolving to 'build back better' after the COVID-19 pandemic, including focusing on vulnerable groups and in the Amazon region, working on issues such as solar energy, primary health, and skills development. All Prosperity Fund programmes follow robust due diligence procedures, and take a 'do no harm' approach as a minimum standard. The UK is working with indigenous communities across Brazil, including in the Amazon region. The UK supports the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) Early Movers programme, which helps indigenous communities to develop sustainable income sources and strengthen food security: 19,593 families have benefitted so far. Through Partnerships for Forests, the UK also supports almost 2,000 indigenous people to strengthen livelihoods through sustainable forest management. The UK Government is committed to promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals, including indigenous peoples.

Bahrain: Political Prisoners

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Government of Bahrain on the provision of appropriate medical care to (a) Dr Abduljalil Al Singace, (b) Hassan Mushaima, (c) Ali Al Hajee and (d) Naji Fateel; and if he will call for their release.

James Cleverly: The Government of Bahrain has made clear in public statements that access to appropriate medical care for those in detention is guaranteed by the Constitution of Bahrain. These statements stated publicly that, under normal circumstances, any prisoner wishing to see a doctor is taken to the prison clinic, with referral to specialist facilities where required. However as part of COVID-19 precautions, all medical consultations now take place via video calls, ensuring the safety of both patients and medical staff. We welcome these assurances from the Government of Bahrain, urge continued transparency and would encourage those with any concerns about treatment in detention to raise them with the appropriate Bahraini human rights oversight body.We continue to monitor the cases of Abduljalil al-Singace, Hassan Mushaima, Ali Al Hajee and Naji Fateel.

Bahrain: Coronavirus

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Bahrain authorities' decision to release some prisoners during the covid-19 pandemic, if he will make representations to the Government of Bahrain on the release of (a) Sheikh Ali Salman, (b) Hassan Mushaima and (c) other imprisoned Bahraini political opposition leaders.

James Cleverly: From January to June 2020, 1,055 Bahraini prisoners have received royal pardons and been released from prison. In March, a further 585 prisoners received alternative, non-custodial sentences. We welcome the continued use of alternative sentencing in Bahrain, which was introduced with UK Government support for Bahraini-led reforms of the judicial system. The use of alternative sentencing is governed by clear eligibility guidelines. So far, over 1,700 alternative sentences have been handed down since 2017.We continue to monitor the cases of Hassan Mushaima and Sheikh Ali Salman.

Nigeria: Armed Conflict

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the report published by Amnesty International entitled We dried our tears: addressing the toll on children of Northeast Nigeria's conflict, if he will make it his policy that continued support by the Government for Operation Safe Corridor is conditional on the Nigerian authorities (a) undertaking a full investigation into deaths in the military-run detention centre and (b) taking steps to ensure that the military respects children's rights.

James Duddridge: We are concerned by allegations of human rights abuses in Amnesty International's recent report, We Dried Our Tears. The British High Commissioner has raised the report's findings with the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling for a full investigation into the allegations and prosecution of any individuals found to have committed abuses in military detention facilities. The UK Government does not provide any support to the military detention facilities mentioned or provide funding directly to the Government of Nigeria.We are also concerned by criticisms in the report of Operation Safe Corridor. The programme is run by the Federal Government of Nigeria and is intended to provide defectors from Boko Haram with a voluntary way to disarm and reintegrate with society through de-radicalisation, psychosocial support and livelihood training. By providing a way to disengage from conflict, these programmes are an essential part of peacebuilding but they must fit for purpose and conducted in a way that fully respects human rights.The UK, alongside the US and EU, provides funding to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to assist in the reintegration element of the Operation Safe Corridor. All UK Government programme spend is subject to regular monitoring and review. We are urgently following up points raised in the report with IOM, in particular in relation to the process for screening participants, the conditions in which they are detained and the timeline for rehabilitation. IOM have assured us that no children are currently enrolled. The UK's position on human rights is clear: they are universal and must apply equally to all people. The UK will continue to call on all parties to the conflict in North East Nigeria to respect human rights, including the rights of children, and abide by international humanitarian and human rights law.

Saudi Arabia: Women's Rights

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to  the document UK Support for Human Rights Defenders, published in July 2019, what additional support his Department plans to provide to women in Saudi Arabia who campaigned for the right to drive but remain on trial.

James Cleverly: We remain concerned about the continued detention of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Secretary raised our concerns about the ongoing detention of political detainees, including women's rights defenders with Saudi Ministers during his visit this year to Riyadh on 4 and 5 March. We regularly raise areas of concern with the Saudi authorities at all levels, through Ministers, our Ambassador and the Embassy in Riyadh. We continue to raise concerns about individual cases regularly and monitor the situation closely.We welcome recent positive developments, including the end on the ban on women driving and guardianship reforms. Women's rights still fall short of international standards, and we will continue to raise the issue with Saudi Arabia.

Sri Lanka: Human Rights

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State, what steps the Government plans to take with international partners at the Human Rights Council to deliver international accountability in relation to alleged war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan civil war, with reference to the Sri Lankan Government’s recent repudiation of its commitments under Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 and the termination of that process in March 2021.

Nigel Adams: The UK Government regularly engages with international partners on the importance of truth, accountability and justice for all victims of the civil war in Sri Lanka. At the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, the UK works closely with the Core Group on Sri Lanka, and made clear our continued support for justice for victims of conflict in a joint statement delivered at the UNHRC in February. While in Geneva in February, the Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, met the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to underline this message, and the Foreign Secretary raised the importance of accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka during a call with Foreign Minister Gunawardena in May. On 20 May, in a call with the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Lord Ahmad, who is also the Minister of State responsible for Human Rights, welcomed her recent engagement on Sri Lanka.The British High Commission in Colombo continues to engage with international partners on this important issue. The UK has long supported Sri Lanka's accountability commitments made to the UNHRC through resolutions 30/1, 34/1 and 40/1 as the best way to establish truth regarding alleged crimes committed by all sides during the Sri Lankan civil war, as well as to achieve accountability and reconciliation.

Sri Lanka: Human Rights

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Prime Minister, as Chair in Office of the Commonwealth, has had with the Commonwealth Secretariat on the need for a Commonwealth good offices initiative to Sri Lanka.

Nigel Adams: The Prime Minister, as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, has not held discussions with the Commonwealth Secretariat on a Commonwealth good offices initiative to Sri Lanka, but we are monitoring the situation in Sri Lanka closely. Respect for human rights, democracy and good governance are fundamental tenets of the Commonwealth Charter, and we encourage all member states to uphold those shared commitments.The UK is also a member of the Core Group on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and has long supported Sri Lanka's commitments under UNHRC resolutions 30/1, 34/1 and 40/1 on accountability, justice and reconciliation following the Sri Lankan civil war.

Department for International Development: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Ben Everitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's spending will adhere to the OECD Development Assistance Committee's internationally agreed standards for aid spending; and whether that Office will retain the legal safeguards and scrutiny mechanisms provided by the (i) International Development Committee, (ii) Independent Commission for Aid Impact and t(iii) International Development Acts.

James Cleverly: There are no plans to repeal or replace any of the Acts. Spending 0.7 percent of our national income on aid is enshrined in law. We will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act, including a commitment to poverty reduction. The Government will undertake the necessary parliamentary process to transfer responsibilities under the International Development Act to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be accountable to parliament for how it spends UK aid. The form this takes is a matter for parliament.

Department for International Development: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister on 16 June 2020, Official Report, column 678, what discussions he had with the Prime Minister on the Prime Minister’s consultation with (a) international aid organisations and (b) humanitarian and development experts prior to the decision to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 16 June 2020, Official Report, column 678, what assessment he made of the potential merits of the outcomes of the Prime Minister's consultation with (a) international aid organisations and (b) humanitarian and development experts on the decision to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister on 16 June 2020, Official Report, column 678, what discussions he had with the Prime Minister on the consultations that took place with (a) international aid organisations and (b) humanitarian and development experts regarding the decision to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

James Cleverly: The Government continues to engage with UK and international Non-Governmental Organisations on all relevant issues. The Prime Minister has concluded that in the next decade, international issues will be even more important to the lives of our citizens and our own national interest; that the world will become even more complex and competitive, with growing, interconnected challenges and opportunities for the UK; and that therefore we need a new all-of-government approach if we are to secure our values and interests in a changing world.By aligning our efforts, merging the departments will allow us to bring together our international effort and maximise our influence around the world. This will ensure that all of our national efforts, including our aid budget and expertise, are used to make the UK a force for good in the world. This will strengthen our ability to lead the world's efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and allow us to seize the opportunities ahead, as we prepare to take on the G7 presidency and host COP26 next year.

Iyad Hallaq

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the killing of disabled Palestinian Eyad Hallaq by Israeli border police on 30 May 2020.

James Cleverly: As the UK Consul General in Jerusalem and the UK Ambassador in Tel Aviv stated on 31 May, we are deeply saddened to hear about the death of Iyad Khairi Hallaq after he was shot by Israeli police in East Jerusalem. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family. We urge restraint in the use of live fire by the Israel Defense Forces. In instances where there have been accusations of excessive use of force, we have advocated swift, transparent investigations and if wrongdoing is found, that those responsible be held to account. The perpetual cycle of violence must end.

Nuclear Disarmament

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts and partners on progress towards nuclear disarmament.

James Cleverly: The Foreign Secretary regularly discusses issues related to international security with international counterparts. Earlier this year, P5 Foreign Ministers of the five Nuclear Weapon States issued a joint declaration reaffirming our commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to mark the Treaty's 50th anniversary. The UK Government hosted a P5 Conference in London on 12-13 February, which allowed the five Nuclear Weapon States to deepen our engagement on nuclear issues, including disarmament. Officials also continue to have regular discussions with international partners on multilateral disarmament.

Department for International Development: Reorganisation

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the Government did not wait for the conclusion of the review into foreign, defence and development policy before making the decision that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development should merge.

James Cleverly: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for International Development: Reorganisation

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the internal review that informed the decision to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

James Cleverly: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Carers

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Attorney General, how many staff in her Office had caring responsibilities in each of the last five years.

Michael Ellis: The Annual Civil Service People Survey includes a question on caring responsibilities. The affirmative responses to this question for the Government Legal Department (GLD), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) are listed below. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) responses are not included due to the small number of staff and the risk of individuals being identified. Please note that figures collected from the People Survey may not fully represent the number of carers as it is reliant on responses to the question. The CPS and SFO do not hold records of the responses to the question for all of the past five years. The CPS cannot provide data before 2018, the SFO cannot provide data before 2019 and GLD is also unable to provide data for 2018 as those data stores are no longer accessible and records were not held by the departments. Please also note that the wording of the question in 2016 and 2019 were different and the higher figures are likely due to the inclusion of childcare responsibility in those years. Government Legal Department (GLD):2015 – 266 out of 1,602 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities2016 – 580 out of 1,530 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities2017 – 300 out of 1,780 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities2018 – No data2019 – 482 out of 2,214 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities Serious Fraud Office (SFO):2015 – No data2016 – No data2017 – No data2018 – No data2019 – 84 out of 448 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities Crown Prosecution Service (CPS):2015 – No data2016 – No data2017 – No data2018 – 1,359 out of 3,974 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities2019 – 1,102 out of 3,720 who responded stated they had caring responsibilities

Sentencing: Appeals

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) appeals and (b) successful appeals the Government has made against sentences on the basis of undue leniency, in each of the last 20 years.

Michael Ellis: The statistics from 2000 are provided below. It should be noted that Attorney General’s Office does not hold accurate data prior to 2001 and we are not in possession of the data indicating the number of successful appeals for the year 2000. YearAppeals the Government has made against sentences on the basis of undue leniencySuccessful appeals the Government has made against sentences on the basis of undue leniency200031Data unavailable200114790200214894200396782004105662005108672006144104200776532008594620098458201077602011117942012826220137061201412210620151361022016180130201717313720181409920199763

Department of Health and Social Care

Baroness Harding of Winscombe

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applicants were interviewed before Baroness Harding of Winscombe was appointed to lead the NHS Test and Trace system.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the (a) TalkTalk 2015 data breach and (b) TalkTalk poor customer service rating were considered in the due diligence process before the appointment of former CEO Baroness Harding of Winscombe to lead the NHS Test and Trace system.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Baroness Harding was appointed to lead the programme of testing and tracing as part of the Government’s ongoing response to COVID-19 in line with the long-standing practice that Ministers can directly appoint individuals to undertake short-term pieces of work. Baroness Harding also holds public appointments as the Chair of NHS Improvement and a non-executive director of the Court of the Bank of England. In both cases, her skills and experience were independently assessed prior to appointment.

Coronavirus: Screening

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average length of time taken to answer a call to the test and trace service from someone with covid-19 symptoms is in (a) each region and (b) across the UK for the latest period in which figures are available.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Holding answer received on 08 June 2020



Regional data is not available. The devolved administrations have their own contact tracing systems in place.

Hospitals: Coronavirus

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2020 to Question 49689, whether positive covid-19 results of NHS hospital patients are shared with local authorities.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Holding answer received on 11 June 2020



Public Health England publishes data on positive COVID-19 tests in the National Health Service at upper and lower tier local authority level on GOV.UK as part of the information on pillar 1 testing available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-track-coronavirus-casesLocal authorities are also notified about individual positive test results of hospital patients when these form part of outbreak and contact tracing investigations involving local authorities.

Health Professions: Coronavirus

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's policy is for doctors who are contacted by the covid-19 contact tracers; and whether other healthcare professionals working in the same hospital will have to quarantine for 14 days in the event of such a contact.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Holding answer received on 11 June 2020



People identified by NHS Test and Trace as having been in close contact with someone who has a positive test must stay at home for 14 days, even if they do not have symptoms, to minimise the risk that they unknowingly spread the virus. Only those who have had close, recent contact with someone who tests positive will be asked to self-isolate.If someone who works in – or has recently visited – a health or social care setting, tests positive for COVID-19, their case will be escalated to local public health experts, who will liaise with the relevant setting to agree on the most appropriate action. If they were wearing appropriate personal protective equipment as part of their professional duties at the time of the contact, this will not count as a contact.

Overseas Visitors: Coronavirus

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing exemptions to the Government's 14 day quarantine requirement for visitors to the UK who can prove that they have tested negative for covid-19 within the last seven days.

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing exemptions to the Government's 14 day quarantine requirement for visitors who have come to the UK to visit terminally ill relatives and can prove that they test negative for covid-19.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Holding answer received on 15 June 2020



The purpose of these measures is to manage the risk of transmissions being introduced from abroad. Testing before or at the border is currently not a part of these measures as the 14-day incubation period for COVID-19 could result in false negatives and undetected asymptomatic travellers entering the UK. The regulations will be reviewed on 29 June to ensure they are in line with the latest scientific evidence and remain effective and necessary.Visitors entering the United Kingdom from outside of the Common Travel Area are required to self-isolate for the first 14 days on their arrival. However, an individual may leave the place where they are self-isolating for compassionate reasons, including attending a funeral of a close family member or close friend, or to attend to a terminally ill relative.

Coronavirus: Quarantine

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether travellers to the UK are obliged to quarantine if they have had a positive antibody test for covid-19.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Holding answer received on 16 June 2020



On 8 June new rules for international travellers were introduced in order to reduce the risk of new cases from abroad.Before considering whether antibody testing could ever be used to lessen or exempt specific individuals from self-isolation measures, we first need to improve our understanding of how the immune system responds to COVID-19.COVID-19 is a new disease and the science around ‘immunity’ to the virus remains uncertain. There is no strong evidence yet to suggest that those who have been proven to have had the virus are immune. We do not know, for example, how long an antibody response to the virus lasts nor whether having antibodies means one does not transmit the virus to others.

Coronavirus: Screening

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has asked for feedback from local authorities on the effectiveness of Public Health England's communication of covid-19 test results; and what steps have been taken to improve those communications as a result of feedback received.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We aim to move towards a testing model which has greater local ownership with local delivery models tailored to local need. This means a relentless focus on quality, access and speed across the programme; and building the capacity to enable more frequent, targeted testing of priority groups where this will improve infection control.We are in daily discussions about how best to deliver data on COVID-19 to local authorities and options to integrate this data into their current health response systems. We are also working on producing a toolkit that will support local authorities in data management. This will be complemented by the recently established Joint Biosecurity Centre. This operates as an independent analytical function that will work with local areas to provide real time analysis and assessment of infection outbreaks at a community level, to enable rapid intervention before outbreaks grow.

Mental Health Services: Telephone Services and Video Conferencing

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service providers offered telephone and video appointments in place of face-to-face appointments between 23 March and 15 June 2020.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We are unable to provide the data as requested.The information on whether appointments take place face-to-face or by phone or video is only available in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies annual publications.This information covering the period 1 April 2019 - 31 March 2020 is due to be published on 30 July 2020.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what scientific evidence was used to support the policy that covid-19 tests were not provided to care homes with residents under 65.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Protective Clothing: Manufacturing Industries

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government has taken through monitoring to ensure that personal protective equipment used in the NHS and social care sector is not manufactured in conditions that breach human rights.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Hygiene

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extend the scope of the Adult Social Care infection control fund grant to cleaning materials.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Nurses

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses were employed to care for adults in the NHS in each month from 2010 to 2018.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Nurses

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in 2012, what estimate his Department has made of the number of nurses that would be needed by the NHS in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016, (e) 2017 and (f) 2018.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Hospital Beds: Coronavirus

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many private hospital beds have been used since the start of the covid-19 outbreak; and what the cost is of each of those beds per night.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to inform people who have been instructed to shield until 30 June 2020 what they are to do after that date; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS and Social Services: Parking

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will continue to provide NHS staff, care staff, NHS Volunteer responders with free parking.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Breast Cancer: Coronavirus

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on people with incurable secondary breast cancer of the changes to cancer treatment during the covid-19 outbreak.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Methadone: Prescriptions

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the use of electronic prescription for FP10 MDA prescriptions.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Methadone: Prescriptions

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to enable the use of electronic FP 10 MDA prescriptions during the covid-19 outbreak.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS and Social Services: Procurement

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2020 to Question 48563 on NHS and Social Services: Protective Clothing, what the timeframe is for the delivery of the 2 billion items of personal protective equipment.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS: Ventilators

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mechanical ventilators are available to the NHS; how many have been made available as a result of the Ventilator Challenge; and how many ventilators are in use as at 18 June 2020.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS: Ventilators

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the statement by the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the 28 April 2020 that the UK has fulfilled the clinical need for ventilators through a combination of existing CE marked ventilators and existing applications to the Ventilator challenge, how many ventilators were required to meet that clinical need; and how many of those ventilators were (a) existing CE marker ventilators and (b) secured through the Ventilator Challenge.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS: Sanitary Products

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the level of need for period product provision in NHS facilities.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Midwives: EU Nationals

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many midwives from the EU are working in the NHS in the latest period for which data is available, broken down by each EU nationality.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Mental Health

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 18 June 2020 to question 58760, on Mental Health, if he will (a) list the dates on which he held meetings with mental health (i) trusts and (ii) organisations since 23 March 2020 and (b) provide the details of those trusts and organisations.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Protective Clothing

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the value of contracts awarded to (a) eBay and (b) Clipper Logistics to develop an online portal to enable primary, social and community care providers to order personal protective equipment.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued on covid-19 testing for people who have relatives in care homes; and when people will be able to visit those homes.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Screening

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to make funding available to clinical research organisations who are able to offer free covid-19 tests to their local community.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Air Pollution

Geraint Davies: Whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report of the all-party group on air pollution entitled, Air Quality Strategy to Reduce Coronavirus Infection and its reference to Queen Mary University's research on the biological link between air pollution and coronavirus.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Hospitals: Construction

Elliot Colburn: What progress his Department has made on the building of new hospitals.

Edward Argar: Considerable progress has been made since the announcement of the Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP) schemes last September, despite coronavirus impacts. A number of the six HIP 1 schemes for new hospitals are approaching early enabling works. HIP 2 schemes have received seed funding and are working up their business cases at pace. We remain committed to, and on target to deliver, on our pledge to build 40 new hospitals.

Coronavirus: Screening

Wes Streeting: What assessment he has made of the availability of covid-19 testing for (a) care home residents and (b) home care recipients (i) under and (ii) over 65 years old.

Helen Whately: Testing kits for staff and residents are available for all adult care homes in England through the whole care home portal.Over 9,000 care homes for older people and those with dementia have had their testing kits and we are currently getting testing kits out to residential homes for adults under 65.Home care workers - and those who receive care at home - with symptoms of coronavirus can book tests via the National Health Service portal or 119.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Mary Kelly Foy: What steps he is taking to ensure that children and young people who do not meet the threshold for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services support are able to access mental health and wellbeing support during summer 2020.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We are committed to supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing.We have released tailored guidance for parents and carers about supporting their children’s mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic and we are promoting this through Every Mind Matters. A number of digital resources are also available through the National Health Service Apps Library.We recently announced a further £4.2 million for mental health charities – including Young Minds and others supporting children and young people – in addition to the £5 milion Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund administered by Mind.Where established in schools and colleges, mental health support teams are expected to be available all year round and are adapting to ensure they remain accessible for those most in need.

Obesity

Nick Smith: What steps his Department is taking to tackle obesity.

Jo Churchill: This is our decade of change to drive forward this important work.To achieve our bold ambition of halving childhood obesity by 2030, we are delivering a wide range of measures through the three chapters of ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action’.

Department for International Development

St Christopher and Nevis: Financial Services

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress the St Kitts and Nevis Government has made in reforming its financial sector; and what support her Department is providing to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to regulate the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

Wendy Morton: The UK does not have a bilateral development programme in St. Kitts and Nevis as it is a high income country and therefore not eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA). However, we are providing technical support through the International Monetary Fund Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) to St. Kitts and Nevis to strengthen financial stress testing frameworks for the insurance sector. CARTAC is also helping to strengthen financial sector regulation and supervision by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank over the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

Overseas Aid: Females

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2020 to Question 41953 on Overseas Aid: Females, whether  the (a) Strategic Vision and (b) implementation plan have been amended as a result of that NAO report to enable (i) overall progress and (ii) value for money to be better assessed.

Wendy Morton: As acknowledged by the NAO, DFID’s Strategic Vision for Gender Equality is ambitious, wide-ranging and well-researched. The review also set out that our partners would value a long-term, high-level plan that includes the key milestones for DFID’s actions on gender equality between now and 2030.We are continually challenging ourselves on how we can increase our impact and deliver even better value for money for the UK taxpayer. We will therefore take forward this recommendation on this important agenda by consulting on and publishing a high-level plan in early 2021. It is critical that we understand the emerging challenges that COVID-19 poses for women and girls globally, across all areas of our Strategic Vision, and address this in the design of the plan.The plan will set out measurable milestones that can be tracked. We will also ensure that it is flexible enough to accommodate new priorities, challenges and opportunities at the global and country level.

Bangladesh: Migrant Camps

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2020 to Question 38888 on Bangladesh: Migrant Camps, what recent representations he has made to his Bangladeshi counterpart on changes to the telecommunications restrictions in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Nigel Adams: The UK continues to raise this issue with the Government of Bangladesh and has requested full lifting of the telecommunications restrictions. The Minister for South Asia, Lord Ahmad, has been raising the issue of internet access in the Cox's Bazar Rohingya refugee camps with the Government of Bangladesh, including with the Bangladeshi High Commissioner in London.  The British High Commissioner in Dhaka has raised the issue on multiple occasions, including with the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser.

Bangladesh: Migrant Camps

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the recommendations on page 13 of the report entitled, The Shadow Pandemic: Gender-Based Violence among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, published in May 2020; and if she will hold discussions with (a) the Government of Bangladesh and (b) NGOs on improving the site-management of refugee camps.

Nigel Adams: The International Rescue Committee’s report clearly highlights that despite the tireless efforts of the Government of Bangladesh and international response to scale up humanitarian assistance, women and girls continue to live with the threat of gender-based violence (GBV). We share the report’s assessment that these risks are likely to be compounded by the spread of COVID-19 and steps taken to mitigate the virus. GBV remains a major concern that requires a multi-pronged approach. This is reflected in the priorities and funding appeal of the UN-led Joint Response Plan 2020, and the complementary COVID-19 response planning.DFID regularly engages with the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, humanitarian NGO partners and the Site Management and Development sector group to discuss how site management can be improved. This includes supporting decision-making based on community feedback and particularly the views of women and girls. This has included spotting and rectifying problems such as non-functional street lights. DFID has funded the installation of more than 29,500 street lights in the camps and host communities since 2017. Protection focal points are also embedded in the Site Management and Development sector to ensure protection issues such as GBV are taken into account.

Brazil: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that Official Development Assistance spent in Brazil supports the rights of indigenous communities living in the Amazon region.

Wendy Morton: The Prosperity Fund programme in Brazil will support better public services, more sustainable energy and investment, and more efficient international trade. The programme is evolving to ‘build back better’ after the COVID-19 pandemic, including focusing on vulnerable groups and in the Amazon region, working on issues such as solar energy, primary health, and skills development. All Prosperity Fund programmes follow robust due diligence procedures and take a ‘do no harm’ approach as a minimum standard. The UK is working with indigenous communities across Brazil, including in the Amazon region. The UK supports the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) Early Movers programme, which helps indigenous communities to develop sustainable income sources and strengthen food security: 19,593 families have benefitted so far. Through Partnerships for Forests, the UK also supports almost 2,000 indigenous people to strengthen livelihoods through sustainable forest management. The UK Government is committed to promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals, including indigenous peoples.

Developing Countries: Equality

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of public-private sector partnerships for improving gender equality in developing countries.

Wendy Morton: Working with the private sector can crowd additional finance to benefit women and girls including through more productive jobs. DFID’s Work and Opportunities for Women is advising British multinational companies to secure better paid and secure work for 400,000 women in global supply chains. Our co-financing of the G20 Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative  will help reach 115,000 women entrepreneurs in developing countries and mobilise additional public and private sector resources of $2.6 billion. CDC has co-led a collective commitment by the G7 Development Finance Institutions to mobilise $3 billion of public and private investments advancing gender equality in developing countries.

Overseas Aid: Coronavirus

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that programmes funded by her Department can be adapted to respond to the covid-19 pandemic and progress on development does not stop as a result of it.

Wendy Morton: We are maximising the UK’s efforts to tackle COVID-19 by adapting and scaling up existing programmes where they can respond to the crisis. In country, we are working quickly to pivot our programming to support the COVID-19 response, reinforcing health, humanitarian, social protection or economic support programmes.

Yemen: Overseas Aid

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that aid to Yemen is received by people who need it most.

James Cleverly: The UK Government has a zero-tolerance policy to the diversion of UK aid funds and seeks to minimise the risks, to ensure our life-saving assistance (such as food, clean water and medical support) reaches those vulnerable Yemenis who need it most.We do this by only channelling our support through organisations with a strong record of delivering and monitoring assistance, such as UN agencies and international NGOs. We also subject our partners to rigorous due diligence processes and regular reviews (including independent third-party verification of delivery).We also continue to actively call on the Houthis and all parties to the conflict to immediately end all restrictions on aid agencies and comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2451 by allowing safe, rapid, and unhindered access for the humanitarian response and commercial supplies.

Overseas Aid: Coronavirus

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 15th June to Question 57377, (a) what percentage of the £764 million of UK AID is going to UN agencies and WHO, and (b) which countries have so far benefitted from UK AID funding to combat covid-19.

Wendy Morton: We have committed up to £764 million of UK Aid to combat COVID-19 and reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks and impact of this pandemic in the developing world.   The UK has committed £145 million, roughly 19% of the £764 million, to the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Details of which countries are included in the GHRP can be found here.We have also adapted over one hundred existing bilateral health and humanitarian programmes, and close to two hundred existing social protection, economic, governance, conflict and other programmes, across 35 countries and regions relevant to the COVID-19 response.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Coronavirus

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 15th June to Question 57377, (a) how much UK aid to combat covid-19 has been allocated to the Democratic Republic of Congo; and (b) what percentage of UK aid designated to combat covid-19-19 in DRC is allocated to UN agencies and WHO.

James Duddridge: At the forefront of global efforts to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak, the UK has provided £764 million of UK aid toward ending the pandemic as quickly as possible. This includes funding to vulnerable countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to global organisations like the WHO, and investment in rapid diagnostics and vaccines.Within DRC, UK programmes are supporting health facilities to respond to the virus and support the most vulnerable to maintain access to food. Existing humanitarian, health and economic development programmes are also addressing needs arising from the impact of COVID-19. This includes support to UNICEF.

Developing Countries: Coronavirus

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, following lessons learned during the recent West Africa Ebola epidemic, how is the UK Government working with faith leaders in developing countries to maximise the effectiveness of the covid-19 response.

Nigel Adams: I recognise both the important place that religious belief has for many people around the world affected by COVID-19 and the role that faith leaders are playing in the response.The Ebola Crisis has shown that faith groups are amongst the first to respond and can play an effective role in the behaviour change essential to slow the spread, reduce infection, illness and death of epidemics.Faith groups are key policy and delivery partners for DFID. We are committed to working with and alongside faith-based actors to meet the challenges posed to both the UK and internationally by COVID-19.DFID is taking forward a structured approach to working with UK and international civil society organisations, including faith-based actors. This is incorporating strategic and technical discussions to help inform the sector’s response to the pandemic. Specifically, Baroness Sugg has chaired round table discussions with the Chief Executive Officers from key civil society organisations, including faith-based organisations. This has been to update the sector on DFID’s COVID-19 response to date, engage with concerns across the sector, and explore how to mitigate the threats posed by COVID-19 to sector resilience.Lord Ahmad also hosted a round table with faith leaders and faith-based development organisations on 8 June to discuss how we can work together more effectively on the response to COVID-19.DFID has pledged new funding for civil society organisations, including faith-based organisations, to support the response. This includes £20 million through the Rapid Response Facility, which includes funding for Christian Aid; up to £30 million of new grants through the next round of the UK Aid Direct programme, and significant funding through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition.Faith-based organisations can receive funding through multilateral organisations, as downstream partners as part of the UK’s response, and through our country office network.We have been reviewing our programme portfolio in light of the COVID-19 response, enabling us to identify existing activities which can already support the response and others that can be adapted or scaled up, such as our support to health systems and humanitarian crises.

Overseas Aid

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it will remain Government policy to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on development aid when her Department merges with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and if she will make a statement.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: On 16 June the Prime Minister announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development will merge to form a new international department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Government remains committed to the target of spending 0.7 percent on aid, which is enshrined in law, and the UK continues to abide by the OECD DAC rules for aid.

Department for International Development: Reorganisation

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when she was made aware of the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Decisions on Machinery of Government changes are made by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister discussed the merger with both the Foreign Secretary and me ahead of his announcement in the House.

Department for International Development: Reorganisation

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she had meetings with the Prime Minister ahead of the announcement that her Department is to merge with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Decisions on Machinery of Government changes are made by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister discussed the merger with both the Foreign Secretary and me ahead of his announcement in the House.

Department for Education

Free School Meals

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support the families of pupils on free school meals over the school summer holidays in 2020.

Vicky Ford: Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the government fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing additional funding for a Covid Summer Food Fund which will enable children who are eligible for free school meals to receive food vouchers covering the 6-week holiday period. This is a specific measure to reflect the unique circumstances of the outbreak. The government has made significant wider support available for children and families at this time. On 10 June, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, confirmed an additional £63 million to be distributed to local authorities in England to help those who are struggling to afford food and other essentials due to COVID-19. In addition, the government has introduced an uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by around £1,000 a year for the next 12 months as part of an injection of over £6.5 billion by the government into the welfare system. Additional support has been pledged by various departments across government with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announcing the provision of £16 million for food support through charities, including FareShare and WRAP. DEFRA have also issued 2 million food packages to those who are shielding. The Department for Education’s Holiday Activities and Food programme ensures that thousands of disadvantaged children have access to enriching activities and nutritious healthy meals over the summer, and will be backed by £9 million this year. More widely, the government has supported families to cope with the impact of COVID-19 by introducing a range of support measures, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. Support has also been provided to help families pay their rent or mortgage, access sick pay, and delay tax payments. In relation to free school meals, this response applies to educational settings in England only. Education is a devolved matter and it will be for each administration to determine the actions they wish to take.

Department for Education: Carers

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will place in the Library a list of the workplace benefits that his Department provides to its staff with caring responsibilities.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education provides the following workplace benefits to its staff with caring responsibilities:A Flexible Working Policy which enables employees with caring responsibilities to achieve a more effective work/life balance. Flexible working offers a wide range of working patterns, for example: informal flexible working, part-time working, or remote/home working.The DfE Carers Charter sets out the policies and helps managers to understand how they can best support employees with caring responsibilities.A Special Leave Policy that offers a variation of leave which can be requested by employees who are carers: up to 5 days special leave with pay for domestic emergencies, statutory emergency leave for dependants, extended unplanned special leaveCareer breaks which can be requested for a variety of reasons, including caring for dependants.For the past five years the DfE has supported a Carers’ Support Network for its employees with a caring role. This group of volunteers provide emotional and practical support to carers as well as working to influence DfE HR Policy..

Members: Correspondence

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to the letter of 7 April 2020 from the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North, on the University of Hull.

Nick Gibb: I can confirm that the letter, received into the Department on 8 April 2020, from the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North has been responded to.

Members: Correspondence

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to the letter of 28 April 2020 from the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North, on student healthcare workers' student loans.

Nick Gibb: I can confirm that the letter, addressed to my right hon. Friends, the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, received into the Department on 28 April 2020, from the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North has been responded to.

Pupils: Exercise and Sports

Edward Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the School Sport and Activity Action Plan published in 2019.

Nick Gibb: The School Sport and Activity Action Plan set out a range of measures to ensure that all children have access to high quality PE and sport sessions during the school week and opportunities to be physically active throughout the school day, to help them do the 60 minutes a day of physical exercise recommended by the Chief Medical Officer.The Government remains committed to supporting schools to make good use of their sports facilities and to promote physical literacy and competitive sport. We plan to update the School Sport Activity Action Plan with longer-term proposals to support schools to work with sports clubs, coaches and others to ensure children’s activity levels continue to rise when they return to school.The Government has already provided £2.4 million in funding to support this activity and has worked with Active Partnerships, helping schools, clubs and others to adapt plans to provide activity while schools have been closed.Active Partnerships have been working with national and local partners to identify how best to support the sport and physical activity sector during the coronavirus outbreak. The Department has also published online educational resources approved by subject experts for schools and parents to help children to learn at home, including resources for PE.As schools open more widely, we recognise the importance of children returning to taking part in physical activity and PE as part of the curriculum, with well-established links between physical activity, improved mental wellbeing and educational attainment. The Department’s guidance includes details on the teaching of subject areas including PE and ensuring children have opportunities to increase their physical activity throughout the school day.

Children: Food

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure that (a) children from disadvantaged families and (b) other children have adequate access to food during all school holidays.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support the families of pupils on free school meals in Streatham constituency during the school summer holidays in 2020.

Vicky Ford: I refer the hon. Members to the answer I have given today to Question 54195.

Sixth Form Education: Qualifications

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on the Review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on its review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England.

Gillian Keegan: The review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below, alongside the development of T Levels, is central to building a world-class technical education system. The first stage of the qualifications review consultation ran from March to June 2019. The second stage consultation is due to be published later in 2020. The review is looking at complex questions about the range of qualifications needed at post-16 and we want to take the time to get this right. We are taking a number of steps in advance of this to drive up quality and reduce complexity in the system. From 1 August 2020, we will withdraw funding approval for new starts on 163 older qualifications that have been superseded by newer more rigorous versions. From 1 September 2020, we will not approve new qualifications for funding for students aged 16 and above, to stabilise the publicly funded offer in advance of further reform. We have also, this year, started the process to remove public funding approval of qualifications with low or no publicly funded enrolments. Subject to the outcomes of this process, from August 2021 we will remove funding approval for qualifications with no publicly funded enrolments; and from August 2022 we will remove funding approval for qualifications with low numbers of publicly funded enrolments, unless doing so would have a significant adverse impact on a particular sector, geographical area or student group.

Students: Rented Housing

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support the Government is providing to students who are no longer occupying their accommodation but who are still being required to pay rent.

Michelle Donelan: As both my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19. We expect universities to communicate clearly with residential students on rents for this period and administer accommodation provision in a fair manner.Students will continue to receive scheduled payments of loans towards their living costs for the remainder of the current 2019/20 academic year. Many higher education (HE) providers will have hardship funds to support students in times of need, including emergencies. The expectation is that, where any student requires additional support, providers will support them through their own hardship funds. As part of the HE stabilisation package, the government has worked closely with the Office for Students to help clarify that providers can draw upon existing funding to provide hardship funds and support disadvantaged students impacted by COVID-19. Providers are able to use the funding, worth around £23 million per month for April through to July, towards student hardship funds, including for the purchase of IT equipment and mental health support as well as to support providers’ access and participation plans.A number of universities and large companies have waived rents for the summer term or released students early from their contracts. Students who are tenants with individual private landlords can discuss the possibility of an early release from their lease. If they face financial hardship and struggle to pay their rent, support is available: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-support-available-for-landlords-and-renters-reflecting-the-current-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. In the first instance, a student should speak to their landlord if they think they will have difficulty meeting a rental payment, and in this unique context tenants and landlords are encouraged to work together to put in place a rent payment scheme. If a student thinks that their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the accommodation codes of practice as long as their provider is a code member. The codes can be found at: https://www.thesac.org.uk/; https://www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/how-to-complain and: https://www.rla.org.uk/about/nrla-code-of-practice.shtml.Information published by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gives guidance on the COVID-19 outbreak’s effects on consumer contracts and may be helpful to students, including those who have already paid deposits for accommodation: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds.The guidance sets out the CMA’s view on how the law operates to help consumers understand their rights and to help businesses treat their customers fairly. Students may be entitled to refunds from certain accommodation providers depending on the terms of their contract and their particular circumstances. If students need help, organisations such as Citizens Advice offer a free service, providing information and support.

Schools: Sportsgrounds

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of school playing fields that have been sold in 2020.

Nick Gibb: The Department is keen to protect school playing fields and schools are only able to sell playing fields when they demonstrate that the disposal does not impact their curriculum and that they have explored all possible alternatives.The Department periodically updates a playing field decision list on GOV.UK and the next update will be in July. The Department is currently collating data for this update. The list is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals.

Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of not extending the free school meals voucher scheme over the 2020 school summer holidays on foodbank usage.

Vicky Ford: Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to COVID-19, the government fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing additional funding for a COVID-19 Summer Food Fund which will enable families with children who are eligible for free school meals to receive food vouchers covering the 6-week holiday period. This is a specific measure to reflect the unique circumstances of the outbreak and builds on wider support put in place by the government. This support includes the Department for Education’s holiday activities and food programme, providing support to thousands of disadvantaged children this summer, and our investment of up to £35 million in a national breakfast clubs programme, which provides a healthy start to children in schools in disadvantaged areas.

Autism: Coronavirus

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to parents of autistic children who are unable to access childcare during the covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Vicky Ford: The government recognises the significant challenges the COVID-19 outbreak has presented for autistic children and young people, and their families.From 1 June, early years providers, including childminders, have been able to welcome back children of all ages.For school age children, from the week commencing 1 June, we have asked primary schools to welcome back children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6, alongside priority groups. This includes children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan who are not already attending, according to individual risk assessment. We have also asked special schools to work towards a phased return of more children and young people, without a focus on specific year groups and informed by risk assessments.We are asking local authorities and education settings, working in partnership with parents, carers and young people, to maintain risk assessments for children and young people with EHC plans who are remaining at home. These assessments help inform decisions about the support children and young people should receive, noting that circumstances, such as the child’s and family’s needs and wellbeing, may change. Our latest guidance on supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to return to school or college is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance.

Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with representatives of employers on the continuation of planned apprenticeships in (a) 2020 and (b) 2021.

Gillian Keegan: Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and supporting employers in all sectors to access the skilled workforce they need to recover and grow post COVID-19. The flexibilities we have introduced are enabling apprenticeships to continue. We are looking to support employers of all sizes, and particularly smaller businesses, to take on new apprentices this year. We will set out further details in due course. We will also ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year.We are continuing to meet with employers and their representative organisations. I hosted a series of round tables with employers and business representative groups to discuss what more is needed to support employers, including the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.The National Apprenticeship Service continues to support employers, intermediary organisations and stakeholders through regular virtual meetings, and timely communications about changes to apprenticeship policies in response to COVID-19. Insight gathered from our engagement with employers and their representative bodies is used to help shape further flexibilities.

Further Education: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to provide additional funding for any additional transport required by Further Education Colleges due to the covid-19 outbreak.

Gillian Keegan: The department provides a range of financial support for students, including a bursary fund for 16 to 19 year-olds and learner support funds for students aged 19 and over, to help disadvantaged and vulnerable people pay for things necessary for education which they could not otherwise afford, including amongst other things, the cost of travel. We are also working with stakeholders to identify and evidence additional costs that might arise as a result of COVID-19.We do recognise the costs as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak may have put some further education providers under pressure, and we are working to understand this further as we look at the overall support the sector requires.

Academic Year and Free School Meals

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish details of the successful bids for the 2020 Holiday Activities and Food programme.

Vicky Ford: The Holiday Activities and Food scheme is integral to our approach to provide healthy food to children over the summer. It will ensure thousands of disadvantaged children have access to healthy meals and holiday activities in summer 2020, building on the success of the 2018 and 2019 programmes.On Saturday 20 June, we published the list of successful bidders for 2020. The 10 co-ordinators delivering across 17 local authorities are:StreetGames (Newcastle, North East region)Gateshead Council (Gateshead - North East region)Edsential (Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Wirral - North West region)Spring North (Blackburn with Darwen - North West region)Leeds Community Foundation (Leeds and Bradford - Yorkshire and the Humber region)Voluntary Action Sheffield (Sheffield - Yorkshire & the Humber region)Suffolk County Council (Suffolk - East of England region)Mayor’s Fund for London (Lambeth and Southwark - London)Tower Hamlets Local Authority (Tower Hamlets - London)

Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of extending the free school meals voucher scheme on levels of child poverty.

Vicky Ford: As both my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19. ​As the Education Secretary has set out, we are listening to those who need help and taking substantial action during this unprecedented time to make sure no child goes hungry.Our latest guidance on free school meals is set out below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak the government understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing additional funding for a Covid Summer Food Fund which will enable children who are eligible for free school meals to receive food vouchers covering the 6-week holiday period.The government has made significant wider support available for children and families at this time. On 10 June, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, confirmed an additional £63 million to be distributed to local authorities in England to help those who are struggling to afford food and other essentials due to COVID-19. In addition, the government has introduced an uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by around £1,000 a year for the next 12 months as part of an injection of over £6.5 billion by the government into the welfare system.Additional support has been pledged by various departments across the government with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announcing the provision of £16 million for food support through charities, including FareShare and WRAP. DEFRA have also issued 2 million food packages to those who are shielding.The Department for Education’s Holiday Activities and Food programme ensures that thousands of disadvantaged children have access to enriching activities and nutritious healthy meals over the summer.More widely, the government has supported families to cope with the impact of COVID-19 by introducing a range of support measures, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. Support has also been provided to help families pay their rent or mortgage, access sick pay, and delay tax payments.

Free School Meals: Voucher Schemes

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to ensure that free school meal vouchers provided during the school holidays are not spent on (a) alcohol and (b) other non-food items.

Vicky Ford: Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing additional funding for a COVID-19 Summer Food Fund which will enable families with children who are eligible for free school meals to receive food vouchers covering the 6-week holiday period.Families are free to select the most appropriate food for their child. When selecting products, we encourage families to consider health and nutrition. The School Food Standards and the NHS Eat Well website may act as a useful guide for families. These can be found at the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england and; https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/?tabname=recipes-and-tips.The vouchers should be used for food and must not be redeemed for any age-restricted items, such as alcohol, cigarettes or lottery tickets. I have recently written to participating supermarkets to ensure their ongoing support in relation to these restrictions.

Apprentices: Degrees

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether degree apprenticeships will be included in the temporary student number controls introduced for the higher education sector.

Michelle Donelan: Apprenticeships will be excluded from student number controls. When monitoring potential recruitment above a student number control, a higher education provider will not be considered to have exceeded the student number control by virtue of the number of apprenticeship students that it has.Apprenticeships are jobs with a sustained element of training, so this provision is delivered in conjunction with local employers where the apprentice is employed. Relationships between these employers and providers are usually well established, so they are unlikely to be vulnerable to aggressive recruitment practices and they pose little or no threat to the stability of the higher education sector.However, despite apprentices being in full-time employment, they are sometimes also recorded as studying full-time in the Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES) data. This data is used to calculate and monitor student number controls.For HESES20, the Office for Students will provide guidance on how apprentices are recorded in the data return, which will allow all apprenticeship places to be identified.

Children: Coronavirus

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I., 2020, No. 445); i); if he will publish the (a) local authorities, (b) organisations and (c) social workers who asked for the changes; and whether those (i) organisations and (ii) individuals were consulted on the Regulations.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I., 2020, No. 445); on what date he met with the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families For England to discuss the Regulations; and what representations the Chief Social Worker made to him on them.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in relation to Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I., 2020, No. 445); if he will publish the local authorities that have enacted the changes contained in those Regulations; what changes those local authorities have made; and what processes his Department has put in place to monitor compliance with those regulations.

Vicky Ford: The urgency with which the Regulations needed to be drafted meant that a formal consultation was not possible, views were sought from the department’s key delivery partners and stakeholders. As a departmental official, the Chief Social Worker is routinely involved in development of policy on children’s social care providing independent expert advice.The department does not intend to publish the names of local authorities, organisations and social workers who provided views on the regulation changes as we did not seek the information on that basis.Our approach to monitoring the Regulations is based on a triangulation of information gathered from a variety of sources, including local authorities, charities and key partners including Ofsted. I have committed to reporting to Parliament before summer recess on the outcome of the work the department has done to monitor the use of the amended regulations and the frequency in which they have been used.

Children in Care

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what is the (a) minimum and (b) maximum number of days a child can reside in care without a visit from their social worker.

Vicky Ford: We expect local authorities to conduct social worker visits to children in care within the statutory timeframes set out in Regulation 28 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010. The statutory timeframes have not changed and the minimum and maximum requirements for visits will depend on the type of placement the child is in.In exceptional cases, where these visits cannot be made within the prescribed timeframes, such as during periods of significant staff shortages as a result of COVID-19, temporary flexibility has been provided through The Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. This includes allowing visits from the child’s responsible authority to be conducted as soon as reasonably practicable and by telephone, video, or other electronic means.Flexibilities should only be used when absolutely necessary, with senior management oversight, and must always be consistent with the overarching safeguarding and welfare duties that remain in place.

Ministry of Justice

Registered Intermediaries

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a registered defendant intermediary scheme, similar to that for witnesses, to support the duty to make reasonable adjustments and fair trial rights, as recommended by the Law Commission.

Alex Chalk: The Ministry of Justice is currently conducting a review of intermediaries across the justice system. This includes an assessment of the feasibility of implementing the recommendations of the Law Commission on providing intermediaries to defendants, and how such provision might be organised and delivered. In the meantime, courts can continue to use their common law powers to order the use of intermediaries for defendants, in the interests of a fair trial.

Ministry of Justice: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Chris Philp: The amount of energy used by the Ministry of Justice in each of the last five years is as follows: Financial Year2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 Energy (MWh)1,434,4981,409,1631,356,1001,367,7291,320,597 Data is not yet available for any part of 2020/21 as this is collated quarterly in arrears. The department is committed to reducing its carbon emissions on a trajectory to Net Zero by 2050 or sooner; and has reduced its total emissions by 44% by 2019-20 compared to 2009-10.

Probation

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his oral contribution of 11 June 2020 on Probation Services, Official Report, column 426, whether (a) accommodation, (b) employment, training, and education, (c) finance, benefits, and debt, (d) dependency and recovery, (e) family and significant others, (f) lifestyle and associates, (g) emotional wellbeing, (h) social inclusion, (i) cognitive and behavioural change, (j) women, (k) young adults, (l) black, asian, and minority ethnic, (m) restorative justice and (n) service user involvement services are included among the specialist resettlement and rehabilitative services that will be prioritised in order to build a solid foundation that can be delivered within the specified timeframe.

Lucy Frazer: In his statement to the House on 11 June 2020, the Lord Chancellor confirmed plans for a Probation Services Dynamic Framework through which the National Probation Service and other public bodies can commission rehabilitative and resettlement services. It opened on 11th June for registration by prospective suppliers with an interest in provision of one or more of 14 service categories.I want to be clear that registration for the Probation Services Dynamic Framework is open to all organisations that provide accommodation, employment, training, and education, finance, benefits, and debt, dependency and recovery, family and significant others, lifestyle and associates, emotional wellbeing, social inclusion, cognitive and behavioural change, women, young adults, black, Asian, and minority ethnic, restorative justice and service user involvement services.Our plans for the first set of contracts to be commissioned through the Framework reflect our assessment of the relative distribution of offender needs, the availability of existing local provision, and the capacity of both the third sector and HMPPS (in light of the impact of COVID-19) to complete call-off competitions and mobilise services in time for the start of future arrangements in June 2021. We initially intend to run competitions for lots which cover the following Probation Services Dynamic Framework service categories:AccommodationEmployment, training, and educationFamily and significant othersLifestyle and associatesEmotional wellbeingSocial inclusionWomenYoung adults (in Wales only)We will expect Regional Probation Directors to use their established relationships with local commissioners to secure high quality interventions via other funding means in relation to dependency and recovery and finance, benefits and debt, and to assess the need for services in relation to the additional categories. The Probation Services Dynamic Framework will enable Regional Probation Directors, over a period of time, to secure a suite of services across the range of service categories above which matches their locally-identified needs.

Family Proceedings: Coronavirus

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has been made of the implications for his policies of the Family Mediation Council's proposals entitled Covid-19 and the Family Justice System – Meeting the Challenge: Potential Contributions by the Family Mediation Profession, published 6 May 2020.

Alex Chalk: We have been in regular communication with the Family Mediation Council throughout the Covid-19 response and welcome the chance to work closely with the sector during this time. We know that now is a particularly difficult time for families, as relationships are placed under intense pressures, and we are committed to championing mediation as a suitable option for many of these families. My officials are currently reviewing the proposals in detail and will be in touch with the Family Mediation Council to discuss further shortly.

Treatment of, and Outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Individuals in the Criminal Justice System Independent Review

Mr Steve Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will implement the recommendations of the final report of the Lammy Review - An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System; and if he will make a statement.

Alex Chalk: We are committed to publishing routinely progress on the implementation of the Lammy Review and, as of 16 June 2020, the status of the recommendation are as follows: Out of the 35 recommendations;i. 16 have been completed (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 22, 23, 33, 35)ii. 17 recommendations are still in progress, of which:1 recommendation is in the initial stages (34),11 recommendations aim to be completed within 6 – 12 months (15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)5 recommendations will take longer than 12 months to be completed (1, 9, 10, 31, 32)iii. In the Government’s response to the Review in December 2017, it was stated that two recommendations specific to a target for judicial appointments and appraisal (14, 16) would not be taken forward.The Government is committed to advancing each recommendation of the Review in some way and where a recommendation could not be implemented in full or exactly as set out, alternative approaches have been sought to achieve the same aim. The Government’s response also identified actions going beyond the Review’s recommendations. Progress on recommendations and additional actions, and decisions on other areas of disparity where the principle of “explain or change” needs to apply, are overseen by a CJS Race and Ethnicity Board. The Board was created in response to the Review.The Government provided a detailed public update on progress against each of the 35 recommendations of the Lammy Review, and the other related activities, in February 2019 in the “Tackling racial disparity in the Criminal Justice System” update: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-racial-disparity-in-the-criminal-justice-system-2020.

Legal Aid Scheme: Immigrants

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost of extending legal aid to EEA and Swiss nationals to enable them to apply for rights to enter and remain in the UK after the transition period.

Alex Chalk: The legal aid scheme is designed to target legal aid at those who need it most. Publicly-funded immigration legal advice is available to particularly vulnerable individuals such as victims of modern slavery. Legal aid may also be available through the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, subject to the relevant criteria being met.Therefore, no estimate has been made as to the cost of extending legal aid to EEA and Swiss nationals to apply for rights to enter and remain in the UK after the transition period.

Courts: Disability

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to record data on the disability impairment of people participating in (a) physical and (b) virtual court proceedings.

Chris Philp: HMCTS works closely with disability groups to both understand the challenges that disabled people may face throughout the justice system and to put in place measures that address those challenges and help ensure HMCTS meets its responsibilities in the Equality Act 2010.Under the HMCTS Reform Programme new systems are being developed to improve accuracy and consistency of data in physical and remote proceedings. This includes data on disability and other protected characteristics.

Treasury

Food: Wholesale Trade

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what policy changes he plans to make in response to the findings of a Federation of Wholesale Distributors survey that (a) 50 per cent of the 150 food and drink wholesale businesses surveyed, all of which have a turnover of £45 million or lower, are in danger of going into liquidation in the next three months to a year, (b) 70 per cent of those respondents supply food and drink to schools, care homes, hospitals and (c) £270 million worth of public sector contracts are at risk without urgent financial support; and if he will make a statement.

Kemi Badenoch: The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency including almost £300 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of UK GDP. Local Authorities (LAs) can choose to make discretionary grants to businesses in supply chains, like wholesale distributors, if they feel there is a particular local economic need. The Government has allocated up to £617 million to LAs to enable them to give discretionary grants to businesses in this situation. LAs may choose to focus payments on those priority groups which are most relevant to their local areas or to businesses outside of these priority groups, so long as the business was trading on 11th March, and has not received any other cash grant funded by central Government. Wholesale distributors continue to have access to other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the four government-backed loan schemes for firms of all sizes. The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible and how to apply - https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder. On 11 May the Government published its COVID-19 recovery strategy which sets out our plan for moving to the next phase of our response. The strategy sets out a cautious roadmap for easing existing measures in a safe and measured way. On 15 June the non-essential retail sector reopened. The roadmap will be kept constantly under review, and we will continue to work hard to support business and workers as the situation evolves.

Virgin Atlantic Airways

Gavin Newlands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions have taken place between Ministers in his Department and representatives of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and Virgin Atlantic International Ltd on the operation and employment practices of Virgin Atlantic and any potential financial support available to that airline.

Kemi Badenoch: Treasury Ministers and officials meet with a wide range of stakeholders across sectors as part of ongoing policy development and implementation. Ministers and officials from the Department for Transport are in regular contact with airlines, airports and unions to understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on the sector and its workers.

Brexit

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the (a) gross and (b) net savings accrued to the public purse of the UK not being a member of the EU in each of the next four years.

Steve Barclay: Having left the EU, from 2021 the UK will no longer contribute to the EU budget as a Member State, leaving only payments due as part of Financial Settlement obligations. As set out at Spring Budget 2020, the government has accounted for this when setting its spending plans, allowing it to determine how an additional £14.6 billion of spending by 2024-25 can be allocated to its domestic priorities, rather than be sent in contributions to the EU. This will be allocated as part of the overall spending envelope at the next Comprehensive Spending Review.The OBR’s March 2020 Economic and Financial Outlook provides a forecast of the direct fiscal impact of leaving the EU. This is expected to be £4.3bn in 2020-21, £5.0bn in 2021- 22, £7.1bn in 2022-23, £11.3bn in 2023-24 and £14.6bn in 2024-25. The OBR forecast is calculated relative to their forecast of what the UK would have contributed as member state. The future contributions of member states is currently under review in the negotiation of the next MFF.

Treasury: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much energy his departmental buildings used in (a) 2020 and (b) each of the last five years.

Kemi Badenoch: Details of HM Treasury’s energy use in 1 Horse Guard’s Road can be found in the Treasury’s Annual report and accounts: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-annual-report. Details on our energy use can be found on page 203. The Annual Report for 2019-20 will be published later in the year and this will include the energy usage for 2019-20. Details on the energy usage in the Treasury’s Norwich office is not readily available as this information is held by the landlord the Government Property Agency.

Employment

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were estimated to be paid employees according to HMRC's PAYE and RTI data in (a) England, (b) the North West, (c) Oldham local authority and (d) Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency in each month from April 2019 to May 2020.

Jesse Norman: The table below sets out the quarterly numbers for paid employees in England and the North West, from April 2019 to March 2020, from HMRC PAYE RTI data.   April 2019 - June 2019July 2019 - September 2019October 2019 - December 2019January 2020 - March 2020England25,578,00025,873,00025,800,00025,737,000North West3,272,0003,306,0003,305,0003,291,000 Paid Employees in England and the North WestFigures rounded to the nearest thousand It is not possible for HMRC to provide answers to the other aspects of this question due to the time taken to calculate these figures.

Directors: Pay

Sam Tarry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2020 to Question 52599 on Directors: Pay, how many of those directors reported as directors of a close company in the (a) less than £10,000, (b) £10,000-20,000, (c) £20,000-30,000, (d) £30,000-40,000 and (e) £40,000-50,000 bands of income reported in the last 12-month period for which figures are available.

Sam Tarry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2020 to Question 52599, what (a) total and (b) median dividend income was reported by directors who reported total income of (a) less than £10,000, (b) £10,000-20,000, (c) £20,000-30,000, (d) £30,000-40,000 and (e) £40,000-50,000 in the last 12 month period for which figures are available.

Jesse Norman: Individuals can report that they are a director, and whether this directorship is of a Close Company, to HMRC on their Self-Assessment return. The estimates are based on HMRC administrative data for the 2018/19 tax year. The data will not account for some late filing, those who have chosen not to report this information on the form, nor those who do not need to complete Self-Assessment returns. Estimates of the number of directors of close companies and their income is set out in the table below. These numbers are rounded to the nearest 10,000 for individuals and the nearest £10 million for total dividends. Total Income Reported60890Number of Close Company Directors60891Total dividend income of directors60891Median dividend income of directorsLess than £10k100,000£50m£0£10-20k220,000£1.07bn£2,000£20-30k180,000£2.55bn£10,750£30-40k160,000£3.78bn£20,000£40-50k220,000£8.01bn£31,000

Self-employment Income Support Scheme

Richard Fuller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling information from the 2019-20 financial year tax return only to be used for eligibility for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme in (a) the hospitality sector and (b) other sectors of the economy that are unable to reopen in a timely manner as the covid-19 restrictions are eased.

Jesse Norman: There would be significant risks for the public purse if the Government relied on 2019-20 returns for the SEISS, as this would create an opportunity for fraudulent activity through the manipulation of trading profit figures. The Government cannot expose the tax system to these risks. The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) continues to be one of the most generous self-employed COVID-19 support schemes in the world as the economy reopens.  The SEISS is one element of the unprecedented financial support provided by the Government. This support includes Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays, and other business support grants.

Public Houses: Coronavirus

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to provide support to pubs that ineligible for most of the Government’s financial support measures during the covid-19 outbreak due to operating under a management services agreement.

Kemi Badenoch: The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency including almost £300 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of UK GDP. Businesses in the hospitality sector, including pubs, continue to have access to a range of support measures including, but not limited to: A 12-month business rates holiday for all eligible retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in EnglandThe retail, hospitality and leisure grant fund (RHLGF)A Discretionary Grant Fund for Local Authorities in EnglandThe Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBL) for small and micro enterprisesVAT deferral for up to 12 monthsThe Time To Pay scheme, through which businesses in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, can receive support with their tax affairsProtection for commercial leaseholders against automatic forfeiture for non-payment until June 30, 2020 – with an option for the Government to extend if needed. The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible and how to apply - https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder. On 11 May the Government published its COVID-19 recovery strategy which sets out our plan for moving to the next phase of our response. The strategy sets out a cautious roadmap for easing existing measures in a safe and measured way. The Government`s aim is to allow businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, that meet the required social distancing and public health measures to open from 4 July. This roadmap will be kept constantly under review, and we will continue to work hard to support business and workers as the situation evolves.

Administration of Estates: Coronavirus

Sir Charles Walker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will issue guidance to (a) banks and (b) other financial institutions on the timely provision of information to Executors seeking to wind-up estates for probate during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

John Glen: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government, alongside the financial regulators, has been working closely with the financial services industry to ensure that individuals and businesses have the support they need. If anyone has concerns or questions about their banking, including the administration around bereavement, we urge them to speak to their provider. Frontline staff in banks, building societies and credit unions are working tirelessly to deal with a significant volume of customer enquiries. The treatment of customers by UK firms which are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is governed by its Principles of Business. This includes a general requirement for firms to provide a prompt, efficient and fair service to all of their customers, including those who have recently suffered a bereavement. The Government is also supportive of previous industry efforts to improve handling of these sensitive cases, including the implementation of the British Bankers’ Association’s (now known as UK Finance) Bereavement Principles. These Principles include a commitment from firms to provide support to meet individuals’ needs throughout the bereavement process and to work to resolve everything as quickly and simply as possible. The Government will continue to work with the FCA and industry to understand how they are handling bereavement processes and policies around probate in the current context.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Ian Lavery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people who had wages paid using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme have been made redundant, to date.

Jesse Norman: Employers are not required to inform HMRC of redundancies. CJRS is a new scheme and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available.

Tourism: Coronavirus

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the letter entitled, Business Rates Support for all Leisure Businesses from the Local Government Association and others, dated 24 April 2020, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of classifying coach operators as leisure businesses to enable those businesses to access covid-19 business rates and grant schemes.

Jesse Norman: The Government has provided enhanced support through business rates relief and business grants to businesses occupying properties used for retail, hospitality and leisure given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published guidance for Local Authorities (LAs) on the implementation of the business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure. Eligibility is based on the use of property, and it is for LAs to determine eligibility in line with guidance. While certain businesses will not be eligible for business rates relief, they may still benefit from the wider business and employment support package the Government has made available, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the deferral of VAT payments for this quarter. In addition, LAs can choose to make discretionary grants to businesses which have been excluded from the existing grants schemes if they consider there is a particular local economic need. To receive a discretionary grant, a business must have been trading as of 11 March and must not have received any other cash grant funded by central Government (with the exception of the SEISS).

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and Small Business Grants Fund

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending eligibility for the (a) Small Business Grants Fund and (b) Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund to small events businesses operating without fixed premises.

Kemi Badenoch: The Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund have been designed to help the smallest businesses, and small businesses in some of the sectors which have been hit hardest by COVID-19. Both grant funds are also designed to support small businesses facing high fixed property-related costs, which is why the funds have been tied to the business rates system. Small businesses which are not eligible for business grants should still be able to benefit from other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including: An option to defer VAT payments by up to twelve months;The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which will ensure that small and micro businesses can quickly access loans of up to £50,000 which are 100 per cent guaranteed by the Government;The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, now extended to cover all businesses including those which would be able to access commercial credit;The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to support businesses with their wage bills; andThe Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, to provide support to the self-employed. The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply - https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/.

VAT: Tax Rates and Bands

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a time-limited reduction in VAT to support economic recovery as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Jesse Norman: VAT raised over £130 billion in 2019/2020. It is a vital source of revenue for the Exchequer and plays an important part in funding the Government’s spending priorities including hospitals, schools and defence. A temporary VAT reduction therefore would come at a considerable cost to the Exchequer. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Treasury have implemented a range of measures to help individuals and businesses through the crisis, including grants, loans and relief from business rates worth more than £300 billion. The Government keeps all taxes under review.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to respond to the letter of 6 April 2020, reference DL5296, from the hon. Member for Glasgow East.

Kemi Badenoch: HM Treasury has received unprecedented amounts of correspondence since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, and apologises for the delay in responding to the Honourable Member. HM Treasury passed the Honourable Member’s correspondence to HM Revenue and Customs as it concerns an operational issue. HM Revenue and Customs will reply as soon as possible.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether ministerial directions relating to the response to the covid-19 outbreak have been issued other than those that have been published.

Kemi Badenoch: Ministerial Directions are published on GOV.UK. As set out in paragraph 3.4.5. of Managing Public Money, (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-public-money) it is the responsibility of the relevant Accounting Officer to arrange for the existence of the direction to be published, no later than in the next report and accounts, unless the matter must be kept confidential.

Self-employed: Coronavirus

Chris Elmore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support is available for self-employed people who have become self-employed in the last 12 months.

Jesse Norman: The newly self-employed are eligible for many elements of the unprecedented financial support provided by the Government. This package includes Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays, and other business support grants. More information about the full range of business support measures is available at www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-businesses-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

Health Services: Protective Clothing

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) quantity and (b) value was of healthcare personal protective equipment (i) exported from and (ii) imported to the UK in 2020.

Jesse Norman: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are responsible for the collection and publication of data on UK imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC release this information monthly, as a National Statistic: the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics. There is aggregated trade data available for personal protective equipment (PPE) goods and for the periods requested on HMRC’s uktradeinfo.com website, under ‘Build your own data tables’. The site also contains a ‘Help’ function with information on how to extract trade data. To search for trade data relating to any particular good, the commodity code of that good is required. HMRC maintain a list of COVID-19 products, including PPE goods, and their commodity codes on GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/890809/COVID-19_commodity_codes.csv/preview. However, the trade data collected may not allow PPE goods classified under a particular commodity code to be distinguished from any non-PPE goods classified under that same commodity code.

Taxation: Carers

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if HM Revenue and Customs will waive the tax on the Welsh Government's £500 payments to carers.

Jesse Norman: The UK Government values the contribution of care workers greatly, particularly during the current COVID-19 crisis.HM Revenue and Customs are working with the Welsh Government to understand the nature of the payments. Under the longstanding rules of income tax, any payments made in connection with an employment are chargeable to income tax and National Insurance contributions.This is consistent with the Government’s approach across different forms of financial support during COVID-19, including payments made under the Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which are liable to tax.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing Occupancy: Coronavirus

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on people living in multi-generational households as lockdown restrictions are eased.

Christopher Pincher: Holding answer received on 15 June 2020



As set out in Our Plan to Rebuild, the Government is introducing a range of adjustments to social distancing measures, timing these carefully according to both the current transmission rate of the virus and the Government’s ability to ensure safety. The steps for modifying social distancing measures are set out in the plan, with strict conditions to safely move from each step to the next.Public Health England recently updated its guidance for households with grandparents, parents and children living together where a member of the household is aged 70 or over, or has an underlying health condition, meaning they are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.The guidance can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/guidance-for-households-with-grandparents-parents-and-children-living-together-where-someone-is-at-increased-risk-or-has-symptoms-of-coronavirus-cov

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Luke Hall: The information for the years 2015-16 to 2018-19 is available in our Annual Report and Accounts.Data for 2019-20 and for 2020 to date is not held centrally.

Planning Permission

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the outstanding number of dwellings for which planning permission has been granted.

Christopher Pincher: As of 29 May 2020, there were circa 894,000 residential units with detailed planning permission granted on sites which had not yet been completed. Of these, circa 457,000 have started on site and circa 438,000 are yet to start on site (outstanding). Of those yet to start, circa 356,000 are progressing towards a start.

Small Business Grants Fund: Shropshire

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership in ensuring that Shropshire businesses receive business grant support.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Marches LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) is responsible for distributing £1.58 million of support to local businesses to help them in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, working in partnership with local authorities to make grants to SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) in the region. Of the £737,000 that has been allocated to Shropshire Council, £600,000 will be delivered to local SMEs in grants of up to £10,000 each. The Marches Growth Hub https://www.marchesgrowthhub.co.uk/about-us/, managed by Marches LEP, continues to provided business support, advice and guidance to Shropshire businesses .As of 21 June, the Marches LEP has also supported Shropshire Council to deliver over £75.6 million in grants to 6,390 businesses in Shropshire from the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. Government continues to work closely with all local authorities, with the support of local bodies such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, to help deliver the remaining grant funding quickly and efficiently.In December 2019, following extensive consultation with local partners, Marches LEP published their Draft Local Industrial Strategy and evidence base, setting out how they will drive productivity and clean growth. The LEP is now working with local partners to help plan for economic recovery in the short term. All LEPs are subject to an annual performance review by MHCLG, which includes an assessment of their delivery performance.

Local Government: Coronavirus

Tom Tugendhat: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department plans to provide to local authorities to enable them to support vulnerable people on the covid-19 shielded patient list after the provision of direct Government support to those people has ended.

Christopher Pincher: The Government is injecting an additional £63 million to boost local authority welfare assistance to ensure that no one has to go without food and other basic necessities. This is on top of £3.2 billion in additional funding to help councils manage the immediate impact of coronavirus, including supporting local shielding programmes.As announced on 22 June, the Government is relaxing advice to those shielding in two stages. From Monday 6 July, those shielding can spend time outdoors in a group of up to six people (including those outside of their household). From Saturday 1 August, advice to those shielding will be further relaxed, meaning people who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be advised they can go to work or to the shops, as long as they are able to maintain social distancing and are robustly practicing good, frequent hand washing. Support for those shielding has been extended to the end of July – this includes the delivery of food and medicines.The Government will continue to review the risks for the clinically extremely vulnerable as they review social distancing advice for the general population.

Coronavirus: Kent

Tom Tugendhat: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions (a) he, (b) his Ministers, and (c) officials in his Department have had with (i) Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council and (ii) Sevenoaks District Council on continuing support for people on the shielded patient list when direct support from the Government ends in advance of the letter due to be sent out to those on that list in the week commencing 15 June 2020.

Christopher Pincher: We have been working closely with councils and each local authority has a dedicated contact point in the shielding programme. Our South East Regional Team currently works closely with Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, as well as Kent County Council and its lead District Council Tunbridge Wells. Officers from the team continue to speak with senior officers on matters regarding people who are shielding. This support will continue as the core offer to those shielding has been extended until the end of July.

Home Ownership Incentive Schemes: Disability

Kate Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been purchased under the Home Ownership for those with Long-term Disabilities scheme in each year since 2015.

Christopher Pincher: We do not hold data on the number of homes purchased through the Home Ownership for Long-term Disabilities (HOLD) scheme.

Property Development: Isle of Dogs

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of his decision to grant planning permission for the Westferry Printworks site (PA/18/01877/A1) on local targets on (a) overcrowded and homeless households, (b) local housing waiting lists, and (c) local housing density.

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the affordability of the housing element of the Westferry Printworks site plan as amended (PA/18/01877/A1) for Tower Hamlets Residents who are (a) living in temporary accommodation, (b) homeless and (c) on the housing list.

Christopher Pincher: The Secretary of State’s full analysis of the considerations in this case are set out in his Decision Letter of 14 January and accompanying Inspector’s Report.The proposed development would have provided nearly 300 new affordable homes and a brand new school for the local community.

Council Tax and Rents: Arrears

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to stop local authorities using (a) bailiffs and (b) debt collection agents collecting (i) rent and (ii) council tax arrears.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government has put in place measures to prevent enforcement agents taking control of goods at residential premises and on highways until 23 August 2020.   This is part of an unprecedented support package to help prevent people getting into rent arrears or financial hardship. The Government has also taken action to prevent renters, including council tenants, from eviction. On 5 June, the Government announced that the current suspension of evictions from social or private rented accommodation will be extended by 2 months until 23 August 2020. This means that no action to evict a tenant will proceed before 24 August 2020. The emergency measures in the Coronavirus Act, which requires landlords to give at least 3 months' notice to evict tenants, are unaffected by this and remain in place until 30 September 2020.   Many local authorities have put in place alternative council tax collection arrangements to support their local residents in paying their bills. In addition, the Government has provided an additional £500 million hardship fund to help some of the most vulnerable households with their council tax bills.

Floods

Darren Henry: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with (a) borough and (b) county councils on support for residents affected by the June 2020 floods.

Luke Hall: Flooding, wherever it occurs, can very distressing for local communities and the Government has every sympathy for those affected. To date, my Department has not been approached by any local authority impacted by recent flash flooding incidents. Where such localised incidents do occur, local authorities are expected to have in place well established contingency arrangements to respond to them and to support any recovery efforts.

Freehold

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress he had made on the establishment of a new statutory regime to ensure that freeholders who pay maintenance charges have equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of those charges; and if he will make a statement.

Luke Hall: The Government intends to legislate to give freeholders on private and mixed tenure estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of estate rentcharges as well as the right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new manager for the provision of services covered by estate rentcharges. We will bring forward legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Jeremy Quin: The Department does not hold information on the entirety of energy use by the buildings on its estate as a (relatively small) proportion are provided ‘off contract’, falling outside the frameworks and local contracts. However, the Department’s recorded energy consumption across its estate, falling under the frameworks and local contracts, for the previous 5 years and current year to date is shown in the table below:  2015-165,229,447,046 kWh2016-175,213,898,631 kWh2017-185,090,803,519 kWh2018-194,974,891,458 kWh2019-204,967,433,252 kWh2020-21 (up to April 30)384,641,178 kWh

Military Bases: USA

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, further to the Answer of 9 June 2020 to Question 55019, on Waste Disposal: Applications, whether US fire fighting services use fire fighting foam containing (a) PFBS, (b) PFHpA, (c) PFHxS, (d) PFOS and (e) PFOA materials on US bases in the UK.

James Heappey: The information needed to answer the hon. Member's question will take time to collate. I will write to him when it is available.

Armed Forces: Racial Discrimination

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of reported complaints of racist incidents in the Armed Forces between (a) 2015 - 2016, (b) 2016 - 2017, (c) 2017 - 2018, (d) 2018 - 2019, and (e) 2019 - to 17 June 2020.

Johnny Mercer: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that unacceptable behaviour, including racism, still occurs. MOD and the UK Armed Forces are committed to taking action to eradicate it and have a zero-tolerance approach. Defence, like many other organisations, does not yet represent society and it is essential that it does. We recognise that the pace of change needs to quicken; that is why we are renewing our levels of ambition at the highest levels in Defence as we work to fulfil the key objective in our 2018-2030 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to eliminate discrimination and improve diversity throughout Defence. We continue to implement all the recommendations made by Air Chief Marshal Wigston in his 2019 review into inappropriate behaviour.All allegations of illegal or unacceptable behaviour are taken extremely seriously and investigated thoroughly; Service personnel have a number of routes to raise the issue, either with the police, within the Chain of Command or with Diversity and Inclusion Advisers. MOD is working to prevent unacceptable behaviour from occurring in the first place and has also designed an Active Bystander training so that personnel have the skills to challenge unacceptable behaviour effectively when it does occur.The requested information is not available in the format requested and an answer could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Allegations of racism are captured through various mechanisms, including internal and external disciplinary proceedings, the Service Complaints system, informal complaints and the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey. Defence is working to improve its data capture of all unacceptable behaviour across the department.The Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces (SCOAF)'s annual report does not provide a full picture for ascertaining levels of racism in the Armed Forces. The Ombudsman's report deals with issues of overrepresentation by BAME complainants, but these complaints do not only concern racial discrimination. However, information from the single Services' annual statistical returns on Service Complaints to the SCOAF indicates that in 2019, five per cent of all bullying, harassment or discrimination Service Complaints concerned racial discrimination.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the F-35 Block 4 upgrade is already (a) costed and (b) budgeted for in the existing F-35 programme budget for the UK; how many aircraft will be upgraded; and what the forecast programme cost range is.

Jeremy Quin: The F-35 Block 4 upgrade has been included in the UK F-35 programme budget since its inception. Decisions on the number of aircraft to be upgraded will be made on the basis of military capability requirements. The costs of the Block 4 upgrade are managed through the F-35 Joint Programme Office and, as one partner in the multinational F-35 programme, the UK is not in a position to share detailed cost information.

Voyager Aircraft

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the tendering process was for the contract to repaint the RAF voyager plane used by the Government in the colors of the union flag.

Jeremy Quin: The Voyager aircraft are owned by AirTanker Limited (ATr) who are contracted through the Voyager PFI to provide the Voyager Air to Air Refuelling and Air Transport services to the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Therefore, this work was contracted directly with ATr against the PFI contract. ATr has sub-contracted elements of the work taking account of mandatory aircraft certification, regulatory and licencing requirements. MOD worked closely with ATr to ensure that tenders were only sought from approved suppliers and that competitive tenders received were assessed for cost and deliverability, and where possible, benchmarked against similar work performed previously.

Voyager Aircraft

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what direction he gave the Ministry of Defence to paint the RAF Voyager used for ministerial travel in the colours of the Union Jack; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Quin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 June to Question 60814.



60814 - RAF Voyager - Repairs & Maintenance
(Word Document, 13.6 KB)

Voyager Aircraft

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential for RAF Voyager becoming more identifiable to enemy combatants after it is painted in the colours of the Union Jack; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Quin: The new livery, incorporating the Union Flag, represents Global Britain and will support the MOD’s Defence Task to promote UK prosperity. While the distinctive new livery will allow the aircraft to better represent the UK at high-profile events around the world, military Air to Air refuelling remains its primary mission. Decisions on whether to deploy the VIP Voyager aircraft, or other members of the Voyager fleet, on military operations will be taken on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific circumstances.

Veterans UK: Telephone Services

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51724 on the Veterans UK Helpline, how many cases have been logged by the Veterans UK Helpline service in each month since January 2019.

Johnny Mercer: The Ministry of Defence's Veterans UK helpline is a telephony and email service providing veterans with help and assistance on a wide range of veterans' issues. The helpline does not log claims or cases but where necessary, queries are referred onto the most appropriate part of Veterans UK for resolution and reply. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her Question 59390 on 18 June 2020 which details the number of emails and calls per month from January 2019.



59390 - Veterans UK Helpline Services
(Word Document, 14.68 KB)

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit: Coronavirus

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people claiming universal credit since the start of the covid-19 outbreak will receive the child element of that benefit.

Will Quince: Between March 16th and March 29th, 180,000 open claims (26% of open claims) received the Child Element in their first assessment period.

Industrial Health and Safety

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many reports in relation to the safety of workplaces were received by the HSE in (a) the UK, (b) England (c) the North East and (d) Wansbeck constituency in each month in 2020.

Mims Davies: The tables below provide numbers of all reports i.e. reports of incidents under the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDORs) and reports of workplace concerns received this year. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator for Great Britain (GB) only and there is a separate regulator in Northern Ireland. HSE is unable to analyse data at constituency level, so data for Wansbeck is not provided. 1) RIDDOR Reports  HSELocal AuthoritiesONRMonth reported (2020)GBEnglandNEGBEnglandNEGBEnglandNEJanuary60165082243277624429275-February60725134278263922929975-March51964351235218519416976-April43343692191130812174422-1st – 18th May3682310919612951174351--Grand Total253002136811431020390663392418-  2) Workplace Concerns Month reported (2020)GBEngland*Concerns received for Counties: ‘Durham / Northumberland / Tyne & Wear / Cleveland’*January2396208462February2494217874March45843968163April380933131801st – 18th May2118184594Grand Total1540013388573 *Country and County are given by the notifier. 2 records in the same dataset had no ‘Country’ and 699 records in the same dataset had no ‘County’. RIDDOR puts duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses).Figures represent all RIDDOR types of notifications made each day, as received in a HSE-managed system. These are as reported, no assessment has been made whether individual reports are reportable under RIDDOR, as some reports may not meet the reporting criteria. Reports relate to incidents occurring within Great Britain, excluding any made directly to the Office of Rail and Road about railways-related reports.The RIDDOR reporting system is managed by HSE, so includes reports made which are enforced by others who access the system, namely local authorities (LA), and a small number assigned to the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

Industrial Health and Safety: Coronavirus

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many spot checks of workplaces the Health and Safety Executive has carried out to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect workers from covid-19 since 1 May 2020.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is currently setting up and trialling an approach to spot checks with initial contact being made remotely, and with a follow up with employers who do not provide the necessary assurance that they have sufficient measures in place to protect workers. As of 2nd June 2020, 108 initial contacts had been made and this number will increase significantly in the coming weeks.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will a parent on job seekers allowance who chooses not to return their child to school during the covid-19 outbreak be (a) classified as not looking for work and (b) sanctioned if they are unable to attend interviews due to lack of child care.

Mims Davies: We made the decision to temporarily suspend the requirement for face-to-face Jobcentre Plus appointments for all claimants in Universal Credit, New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), old-style JSA and ESA, and Income Support. Arrangements for after suspension will be communicated in due course.

Social Security Benefits: Greater London

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding in the report by Policy in Practice, entitled The interaction of covid-19 measures and the benefit cap on low-income Londoners, that 22,000 existing benefit claimants in London became capped following the increases in benefits awards introduced by the Government in April 2020 as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Mims Davies: Holding answer received on 04 June 2020



We have noted the findings in this report. The benefit cap provides fairness for hard-working taxpaying households, whilst providing a reasonable safety net of support for the most vulnerable claimants who are entitled to disability benefits and carer benefits. The London cap of £23,000 is equivalent to gross family earnings of around £28,000.

Means-tested Benefits

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the savings thresholds for (a) universal credit, (b) pension credit, (c) income-based jobseekers allowance, (d) income-related employment and support allowance, (e) housing benefit and (f) income support.

Will Quince: Holding answer received on 04 June 2020



The capital limits are kept under continual review. However, they can be increased only when priorities and resources allow. The Government does not intend to increase the threshold at this time.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential prosecution of cases of breaches of health and safety legislation in care homes that took place during the covid-19 outbreak.

Mims Davies: Holding answer received on 04 June 2020



No discussions have taken place with Cabinet colleagues on the potential prosecution of cases of breaches of health and safety legislation in care homes that took place during the covid-19 peak. Health and safety in Residential (i.e. non-nursing) care homes is enforced by Local Authorities (LAs); apart from resident related issues in England (enforced by the Care Quality Commission), or Wales (enforced by the Care Inspectorate Wales). Each LA is an independent health and safety regulator and, whilst HSE takes steps to promote LA regulatory consistency, it has no power to routinely gather detailed sector or enforcement action specific data from LAs.

Industrial Health and Safety

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2020 to Question 48675 on Industrial Health and Safety, how many investigations of workplace concerns relating to (a) covid-19 and (b) other concerns, where checks have been made to ensure that measures have been put in place to comply with the law, have been made in each month since January 2020, and how many enforcement notices served.

Mims Davies: The table below shows the breakdown, by month, of workplace concerns investigated by the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) field staff. In April 2020, HSE introduced a change to its recording system to identify concerns relating to Covid-19 and therefore it is not possible to identify such concerns which were made before then. The number of enforcement notices served is also provided and arises from all HSE’s regulatory activities.  JanFebMarAprMayJunTotalCovid-19 Concerns*---17149921602866Non-Covid- 19**521488446329215262025Enforcement Notices37856048368108311628*the number of Covid-19 related concerns created on HSE’s database by month and where an outcome is recorded. **the number of non-Covid-19 concerns created on HSE’s database by month and which have a status of “closed”. NB: the above data was extracted from an operational database on 5th June 2020 and is subject to change e.g. due to the delay between action being taken and recording the information onto the database.

Industrial Health and Safety: Coronavirus

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2020 to Question 48675 on Industrial Health and Safety, how many of the enforcement notices served in each month since January 2020 in relation to covid-19.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has received in excess of 7,000 Covid-19 related workplace concerns, predominately from workers and members of the public. The majority of concerns are dealt with by HSE’s call handling team with HSE’s field staff dealing with the more difficult cases. It has only been necessary to serve four enforcement notices to secure compliance which were each served in May 2020. The remaining cases were resolved through verbal advice or correspondence. NB: the above quoted numbers were taken from HSE’s operational database on 3rd June 2020 and are subject to change e.g. as there can be a delay before actions are updated on the database.

Long Term Unemployed People: Linlithgow and East Falkirk

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department is providing to people aged 18 to 25 who are classified as long-term unemployed in Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency.

Mims Davies: We acknowledge that it is important that Jobcentres continue to support young people through the economic recovery post-COVID-19. They have already started to re-engage with new and existing claimants and are signposting them to appropriate support. Anyone over the age of 18 can claim New Style Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance if they have sufficient paid National Insurance contributions. Neither of those benefits is means-tested. Those on low incomes and with limited capital can claim Universal Credit or legacy Jobseeker’s Allowance. For Universal Credit, New Claims Advances of up to 100% of potential entitlement are available within a few days if a claimant needs support during their first assessment period. Face-to-face checks for Universal Credit advances have been scrapped due to Covid-19, so people get the support they need despite COVID-19 restrictions. We have also increased the Standard Allowance for everyone by over £80 a month on top of the existing 1.7% (CPI) increase already announced. This additional increase means all claimants will be up to £1040 better off. DWP is also engaging with a number of external stakeholders including the Youth Employment Group (set up by the Prince’s Trust, Youth Employment UK, the Institute for Employment Studies, the Youth Futures Foundation and Impetus) as well as continuing to work across Whitehall to develop appropriate support aimed at young people.

Social Security Benefits: Linlithgow and East Falkirk

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants have been sanctioned in Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency in each of the last five years.

Mims Davies: The number of Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned is published quarterly. The latest figures for Universal Credit sanction rates are up to February 2020 and can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics Geographical breakdowns of the figures can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance for users is available at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html The number of Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned since 1 March 2020 will not be available until the next publication of these statistics in August 2020.

Unemployment: Linlithgow and East Falkirk

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate the Government has made of the number of workless households in Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency.

Mims Davies: Sub-regional estimates of workless households* are produced annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the Annual Population Survey (APS). The latest available statistics were published on 31 July 2019 and cover the period January to December 2018. ONS do not publish Parliamentary constituency figures on workless households but they do produce local authority figures. Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency covers the eastern portion of the Falkirk local authority and the western portion of the West Lothian local authority area. ONS estimate that between January to December 2018 there were approximately: 8,000 (or 15.7%) workless households in Falkirk local authority; and8,000 (or 14.3%) workless households in West Lothian local authority. These estimates are based on a sample of cases and therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. ONS will publish updated figures for January-December 2019 on 29 July 2020 and will pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic which began in March 2020. * A workless household is a household that contains at least one person aged 16 to 64, where no-one aged 16 or over is in employment.

Social Security Benefits: Coronavirus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has in place to ensure that benefit claimants who (a) are shielding due to the covid- 19 outbreak and (b) have caring responsibilities are not sanctioned if they are unable to take up employment when conditionality easements for (i) universal credit and (ii) jobseeker's allowance come to an end on 30 June 2020.

Mims Davies: Holding answer received on 10 June 2020



We made the decision to temporarily suspend the requirement for face-to-face Jobcentre Plus appointments for all claimants in Universal Credit, New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), old-style JSA and ESA, and Income Support. Arrangements after the 30th June will be communicated in due course.

Employment: Coronavirus

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on financial support for people living in multi-generational households who may be unable to return to work as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Mims Davies: Holding answer received on 15 June 2020



The Secretary of State has had a number of discussions with the Chancellor about the Government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak. The Secretary of State is committed to supporting people of all ages through this difficult period, just as she is committed to ensuring opportunities are available to people across all regions of the UK to ensure we level up our economy as we respond to the pandemic.

Universal Credit: North West

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have been sanctioned since 1 March 2020 in (a) the North West, (b) Liverpool City Region, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey.

Mims Davies: Holding answer received on 15 June 2020



The number of Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned is published quarterly. The latest figures for Universal Credit sanction rates are up to February 2020 and can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics Geographical breakdowns of the figures can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance for users is available at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html The number of Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned since 1 March 2020 will not be available until the next publication of these statistics in August 2020.

Social Security Benefits: Coronavirus

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to provide ongoing additional support through the social security system to families financially affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

Will Quince: The Government has been clear with its commitment to support those affected in these difficult times and we have made a number of changes to the welfare system to ensure people are receiving the support they need. These changes include:making it easier to access benefits. Those applying for Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) who may have coronavirus, are self-isolating, or caring for a child (or qualifying young person) who falls into either of those categories, or individuals who have been advised to ’shield’ because they are at high risk of severe illness, will be entitled from day 1 of their claim – as opposed to day 8 - and we have removed the need for face-to-face assessments. Both Universal Credit (UC) and ESA can now be claimed online or by phone;increasing the standard allowance of UC by up to £1,040 this year;temporarily relaxing the application of the Minimum Income Floor for all self-employed claimants affected by COVID-19 to ensure that the self-employed can access UC at a more generous rate;making Statutory Sick Pay available from day 1 – as opposed to day 4 - where an eligible individual is sick or self-isolating; andincreasing the Local Housing Allowance rates for UC and Housing Benefit claimants so that it covers the cheapest 30% of local market rents – which is on average £600 in people’s pockets.These steps form part of a wider package of measures which represent an investment of over £6.5 billion into the welfare system following the outbreak of COVID-19. These measures, along with the other job and business support programmes announced by the Chancellor, represent one of the most comprehensive packages of support by an advanced economy. We know that circumstances can change rapidly, and that was particularly true at the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19, which is why the Government will continue to keep the adequacy of its welfare response under review.

Social Security Benefits: Coronavirus

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of continuing additional support for vulnerable social security claimants after the covid-19 outbreak.

Will Quince: The Government has been clear with its commitment to support those affected in these difficult times and we have made a number of changes to the welfare system to ensure people are receiving the support they need. These changes include:making it easier to access benefits. Those applying for Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) who may have coronavirus, are self-isolating, or caring for a child (or qualifying young person) who falls into either of those categories, or individuals who have been advised to ’shield’ because they are at high risk of severe illness, will be entitled from day 1 of their claim – as opposed to day 8 - and we have removed the need for face-to-face assessments. Both Universal Credit (UC) and ESA can now be claimed online or by phone;increasing the standard allowance of UC by up to £1,040 this year;temporarily relaxing the application of the Minimum Income Floor for all self-employed claimants affected by COVID-19 to ensure that the self-employed can access UC at a more generous rate;making Statutory Sick Pay available from day 1 – as opposed to day 4 - where an eligible individual is sick or self-isolating; andincreasing the Local Housing Allowance rates for UC and Housing Benefit claimants so that it covers the cheapest 30% of local market rents – which is on average £600 in people’s pockets.These steps form part of a wider package of measures which represent an investment of over £6.5 billion into the welfare system following the outbreak of COVID-19. These measures, along with the other job and business support programmes announced by the Chancellor, represent one of the most comprehensive packages of support by an advanced economy. We know that circumstances can change rapidly, and that was particularly true at the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19, which is why the Government will continue to keep the adequacy of its welfare response under review.

Universal Credit: Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2020 to Question 43917, on Universal Credit, how many families in Scotland who have made a claim for universal credit since 23 March 2020 have three or more children.

Will Quince: Holding answer received on 16 June 2020



From 23rd March 2020 to 5th May 2020, 3,500 of the 57,000 applications made by claimants with children to Universal Credit, who had three or more children in their family, were from Scotland

Universal Credit

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2020 to Question 43084, how many requests for mandatory reconsideration of universal credit were completed by her Department in May 2020.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit mandatory reconsiderations were processed in 2019, by the main issue they related to.

Will Quince: In 2019 there were 144,790 completed Universal Credit (UC) Mandatory Reconsiderations (MR). The information requested on the issue the UC MRs relate to, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. In May 2020 there were 12,740 completed UC MRs. This information is for Great Britain and is rounded to the nearest 10.

Personal Independence Payment

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will place in the Library each internal memorandum circulated to Departmental staff in relation to applications and mandatory reconsiderations of personal independence payments since 1 March 2020.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department continues to engage and update stakeholders on support for people with a health condition or disability during the Covid-19 pandemic.There is no plan to place each internal memorandum in the Library.

Universal Credit: Scotland

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Scotland with children have been sanctioned through the (a) withholding or (b) reduction of payments under universal credit since 1 April 2020.

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Scotland receiving an extra payment under universal credit because of a resident's limited capacity for work have been sanctioned through the (a) withholding or (b) reduction of payments under universal credit since 1 April 2020.

Mims Davies: The information requested, for the number of households on Universal Credit that have received a sanction while also receiving the child or limited capability elements, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department only publishes the number of Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned. The latest figures for Universal Credit sanction rates are up to February 2020 and can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics Geographical breakdowns of the figures can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance for users is available at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish the findings from the review announced on 11 July 2019 into how the welfare system supports people who are terminally ill.

Justin Tomlinson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Parliamentary Question PQ 52243 on 4 June 2020.

Jobcentres: Staff

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2020 to Question 55988, on Jobcentres: Staff, how many full-time equivalent work coaches are currently employed by her Department.

Mims Davies: For the period January 2020 to May 2020, approximately 13,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) work coaches were employed by the Department. These are the latest figures we hold.

Unemployment

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support for searching for work her Department is providing to jobseekers.

Mims Davies: DWP have developed and launched two new websites, Job Help and Employer Help, that directly link to Find a Job. These sites promote a range of guidance and advice supporting decisions on identifying transferrable skills, promoting opportunities of seeking alternative roles or working in different sectors of the economy. Find a Job is a central place for employers to post their vacancies and for job seekers to look for work.

Universal Credit: Ethnic Groups

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2020 to Question 55987, what information her Department holds on the ethnicity of universal credit claimants; what information on ethnicity is planned for future publication; and when her Department plans to publish that ethnicity information.

Will Quince: DWP statisticians are currently working to collate and quality assure the standard ethnicity data collected from Universal Credit claimants. The Department has committed to publishing the statistics as soon as the Departmental statisticians judge that the data meet the standards set out in the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dangerous Dogs

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in its Ninth Report of Session 2017-19, Controlling Dangerous Dogs, HC 1040.

Victoria Prentis: The Government response to the report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee entitled “Controlling Dangerous Dogs (HC1040)”, was published on 28 January 2019 and addressed each of the Committee’s recommendations. In its response the Government noted it has commissioned research from Middlesex University into dog attacks. The research is ongoing and will help to inform implementation of some of EFRA’s recommendations.

Air Pollution: Pollution Control

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the effect on public health of the delays in (a) implementing local Clean Air Zones and (b) achieving compliance with legal limits on air pollution.

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) Clean Air Zones and (b) other restrictions on the use of vehicles compared with other means of tackling illegal levels of air pollution.

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) the response to the covid-19 outbreak does not delay the urgent steps required to tackle illegal levels of air pollution and protect people’s health and (b) local authorities deliver their air quality plans as soon as possible.

Rebecca Pow: Air pollution poses one of the biggest environmental threats to public health. Our ambitious plans to decarbonise transport, improve air quality and support more active forms of travel have not changed, including the £3.8 billion we are already investing to clean up our air. The 2017 UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Concentrations sets out how we will achieve compliance with legal NO2 limits in the shortest possible time. We are continuing to work closely with those local authorities identified to assist them in developing local plans to tackle NO2 exceedances. These plans can include charging Clean Air Zones (CAZ) although other measures that are at least as effective are preferred. We rigorously assess local plans to make sure they will deliver reductions in NO2 levels in the shortest possible time. To help them focus on their response to coronavirus, we agreed with Leeds and Birmingham’s requests to delay the introduction of CAZ until after January 2021. However, CAZ development work is continuing, and we are working to deliver compliance as soon as possible. Our recent rapid call for evidence will ensure we can fully understand the impact that coronavirus is having on changes in air pollution emissions, concentrations and exposure. Recent Automatic Urban and Rural Network provisional NO2 data from 23 March to 15 June shows that average NO2 levels decreased by 45%. It is not clear that these reductions will be maintained long term. Improving air quality as soon as possible remains vital and we continue to engage with local authorities and keep plans for all CAZ under constant review.

Rivers: Boats

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under which statutes are users of small craft restricted from any Common Law rights to navigate freely the inland rivers of England and Wales.

Rebecca Pow: Those seeking to navigate inland rivers for recreational purposes where there is no navigation authority should establish that they have a legal right to do so, either through voluntary agreement with riparian landowners or otherwise.

Welfare Assistance Schemes: Coronavirus

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2020 to Question 57983 on Welfare Assistance Schemes; when he plans to make that funding available; and what formula he plans to use to allocate that funding to each local authority.

Victoria Prentis: We are working at pace to establish an allocation model to focus support where it is most needed and to disburse the money to local authorities as soon as we can.

Home Office

Human Trafficking

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment of need and risk informs the offer of safe house accommodation to someone in the National Referral Mechanism for identifying victims of trafficking; and how such assessments are conducted.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the factors are that make someone who has a positive RG decision through the National Referral Mechnism not eligible for safe house accommodation.

Victoria Atkins: All adults referred in to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are eligible to receive support through the Victim Care Contract to assist with recovery from their modern slavery experience(s). The type of support received is tailored, at each stage, according to the potential victim or confirmed victim’s needs. Support provision may include any combination of subsistence payments, support worker contact and assistance, and accommodation provision. Upon referral for support, The Salvation Army (who are the Prime Contractor in delivery of Victim Care Contract Services) will undertake an initial needs assessment with the potential victim, usually over the telephone. This brief assessment, alongside the information provided within the NRM referral form, is used to establish immediate priorities for accommodation support provision. Considerations such as the individual’s health and wellbeing, any current risk that the individual faces from their exploiters, their current accommodation provision (if any) and their eligibility to access other support services are all taken into account at this early stage. Accommodation may be offered at this stage if an individual would otherwise be destitute or will be made destitute within two weeks of the referral, or if an individual is unable to otherwise access safe and secure accommodation. Upon receipt of a positive Reasonable Grounds decision, The Salvation Army will conduct a more detailed needs assessment to inform the provision of continued or further support, if any is required, within the Victim Care Contract, taking into account their eligibility to access services outside of the VCC. Throughout an individual’s time in Victim Care Contract Support, their needs will be continually considered by their support worker to inform provision of services. The final consideration of an individual’s needs related to their modern slavery experience will take place following receipt of a positive Conclusive Grounds decision, in the form of a Recovery Needs Assessment.

Forced Marriage

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) made reference to forced marriage in the last full reporting year; of those how many people were (a) accepted into the NRM and (b) had their application declined.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual high-level statistics on the number of referrals made to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for adults and children which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics. The Home Office does not currently produce data on references to forced marriage within cases referred to the NRM.

Employment: Vetting

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on unemployed people starting employment of the time taken by the Disclosure and Barring Service to process applications in each year since 2015.

Victoria Atkins: The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a fee funded Arm’s Length Body that provides disclosure certificates and barring functions: which help employers make safer recruitment decisions in England and Wales and prevents unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups and children. It does this by issuing three levels of criminal records certificate, known as disclosure checks, and can bar individuals from working in regulated activity - certain roles that involve working with vulnerable groups and children.A link to the DBS’s datasets showing statistics against performance standards including the time taken to process disclosure certificates, from April 2015 to March 2020, is shown below:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-1-disclosure-progress-information-disclosed-and-update-service-subscriptions

Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effect that the measures outlined in the Domestic Abuse Bill will have on the provision of community-based services for adult and child victims of domestic abuse.

Victoria Atkins: The Domestic Abuse Bill, as introduced on 3 March, includes a new statutory duty on tier one local authorities in England to provide support to victims of domestic abuse, and their children, within safe accommodation.On 17 February 2020, the Secretary of State for Communities, Housing and Local Government announced £16.6 million to go to 75 local authority projects for delivery of support to victims of domestic abuse, and their children, within safe accommodation, helping up to 43,000 survivors.We will ensure that local authorities receive appropriate financial support to meet the new duty. To enable us to better understand the complex landscape for community-based support for all victims, including children, the Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner has agreed to undertake an in-depth exploration of the current community-based support landscape over 2020/21. The Government will then work with the Commissioner to understand the needs identified and develop options on how best to address them.

Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what communications campaign has been launched to (a) raise awareness of domestic abuse, (b) reassure the public that the police and support services are still available and accessible during the covid-19 outbreak and (c) encourage people to access help and support when they need it.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office launched the #YouAreNotAlone communications campaign on 11 April to inform victims of domestic abuse that they can leave home; raise awareness that police response and support services remain available, and signpost help and support. The campaign drives people towards support and advice on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-abuse-how-to-get-help and includes the following channels:Digital and social media advertisingInfluencer and PR activity, creating a movement where people have shown solidarity with victims and signposted to support by sharing the campaign assets and using the hashtag #YouAreNotAlone. High profile supporters include Emma Watson, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Dua Lipa and Russell Howard.Ongoing work with specialist agency The Multicultural Marketing Consultancy (MMC) to extend campaign messaging into diverse black and minority ethnic community channels and media.The campaign assets are also being disseminated via partners and employers through partner packs which, so far, have been sent to 250 stakeholders and nearly 10,000 employers. This includes other government departments, banks, post offices, pharmacies and supermarkets who have all helped promote campaign materials and raise awareness. Materials have been translated in 15 languages and Welsh.

Human Trafficking: Victims

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism were made without the relevant first responder having met and interviewed the potential victim in person in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.

Victoria Atkins: It is not necessary for a First Responder to meet and interview a potential victim of modern slavery before referring them to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). A First Responder’s decision whether to refer a potential victim into the NRM is based on their professional judgment and on the evidence available to them. Data about whether a First Responder has met and interviewed a potential victim is not currently specifically recorded within NRM referral forms.

Home Office: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department,  if she will publish the criteria her Department plans to use for prioritising Official Development Assistance spending in the event of a decrease in GNI.

Chris Philp: To tackle poverty and advance our Global Britain objectives, departments will take evidence-based spending decisions and maintains high standards of programme delivery that are consistent with HMG best practice.

Home Office: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department's share of the Official Development Assistance budget will be decreased in the event of a reduction in GNI.

Chris Philp: The UK has a legal commitment to spend 0.7% of its gross national income (GNI) each year on Official Development Assistance (ODA). Since this commitment is linked to the size of the economy, the level of ODA spend is likely to decrease this year. HM Treasury allocates ODA budgets to departments and is responsible for decisions on changes to these.

Home Office: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is signing new funding agreements for projects funded by Official Development Assistance.

Chris Philp: In the short term, government has paused some new decisions including the signing of some new funding agreements while we agree our future work in close cooperation with other aid spending Departments. We are working closely with Cabinet Office, HMT and all other ODA departments to ensure the best value for money and that decisions are taken in the national interest. We will set out more detail in due course.

Visas: British National (Overseas)

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister's article in The Times newspaper of 3 June 2020, what steps she is taking to ensure that the pathway to citizenship, referred to by the Prime Minister, is straightforward and accessible for students who hold BN(O) passports.

Kevin Foster: The UK will continue to defend the rights & freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. Should China push ahead and impose national security legislation on Hong Kong then we will provide a generous offer to BN(O)s of a bespoke immigration route providing unrestricted access to work and study with a pathway to apply for citizenship. We are working closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and domestic departments on the offer to British Nationals (Overseas) and will set out more detail in due course.

Counter-terrorism: Local Government

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the quarterly reviews of the Prevent strategy carried out by local authorities are made publicly available.

James Brokenshire: To help monitor the impact, effectiveness and value for money of local Prevent delivery, local authorities in receipt of Home Office Prevent funding submit quarterly returns to the Home Office. These provide evidence of local Prevent activities, outcomes, issues and expenditure. These returns are not publicly available.

Counter-terrorism: Non-governmental Organisations

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department defines a civil society organisation within the context of the Prevent strategy; and whether that definition includes private companies.

James Brokenshire: To help monitor the impact, effectiveness and value for money of local Prevent delivery, local authorities in receipt of Home Office Prevent funding submit quarterly returns to the Home Office. These provide evidence of local Prevent activities, outcomes, issues and expenditure. These returns are not publicly available.

Counter-terrorism: Finance

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is a requirement for companies and civil society organisations who receive Prevent strategy funding to submit receipts and invoices to (a) her Department or (b) local authorities to account how they have used that funding.

James Brokenshire: To reduce the threat from terrorism, the Home Office funds dedicated Prevent posts and locally commissioned projects in local authority areas where the risk of radicalisation is most acute. Organisations that are commissioned by local authorities to deliver Prevent projects funded by the Home Office are required to submit receipts and invoices to the local authority that commissioned them. On a quarterly basis, the local authority submits a request for grant payment to the Home Office with a breakdown of their expenditure.

Counter-terrorism: Finance

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what due diligence her Department undertakes on projects that receive Prevent strategy funding.

James Brokenshire: Prevent projects funded by the Home Office are commissioned through local authorities. Local authorities, as the commissioner, are responsible for carrying out due diligence checks. The Home Office funding agreement with local authorities stipulates that a documented due diligence process must be in place and include efforts to understand a delivery partners financial status, viability and capability; technical skills and capacity; operational and commercial processes and procedures; background and history.

Airports: Quarantine

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the criteria is for the review of the 14-day quarantine at UK airports.

Kevin Foster: The measures will be subject to review at the three week point and at regular intervals thereafter. The review will take into account the latest scientific evidence and consider a range of other factors, including the impact on the economy and industry, in order to ensure the measures remain effective and necessary. The first review will take place by 29 June and will include further engagement with industry partners.

Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, at what point of a Recovery Needs Assessment would an individual who is receiving support via the National Referral Mechanism have their subsistence payments ended.

Victoria Atkins: Financial support payments will be provided to victims of modern slavery for as long as there is an identified recovery need for those payments.Potential victims who enter the National Referral Mechanism, receive a positive Reasonable Grounds decision, and are in Victim Care Contract (VCC) accommodation or receive VCC outreach support, will be paid financial support to assist with their identified recovery needs.The Recovery Needs Assessment (RNA) process takes place for all confirmed victims of modern slavery supported through the VCC, following receipt of their positive Conclusive Grounds decision. This process ensures that ongoing support is tailored to their individual recovery needs arising from their modern slavery experiences.Financial support payments will only come to an end where the RNA process finds that there is no longer an identified recovery need for VCC support or that the confirmed victim has access to an alternative source of income to meet their needs, such as income from employment or mainstream state benefits.

Visas: British National (Overseas)

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that young people from Hong Kong born after 1997 and therefore not holding British National (Overseas) passports are able to access asylum in the event that the proposed National Security law is implemented and they are in danger of political prosecution.

Kevin Foster: There is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. All asylum claims must be lodged in-country and we have no plans to amend this.However, in considering arrangements for BN(O)s to come to the UK, we will also consider our approach to the dependants of BN(O)s who do not themselves hold BN(O) status.

Fines: Quarantine

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the number of (a) UK nationals and (b) non-UK nationals who have been issued with fines for not complying with the requirement to quarantine upon entering the UK; and if she will publish the number of fines issued for each day that the quarantine requirement has been in place.

Kit Malthouse: Information on the number of fixed penalty notices that have been issued by the police in England and Wales in relation to a breach of the COVID-19 health regulations are published by the National Police Chiefs Council on a fortnightly basis.

Asylum

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when reporting requirements are due to be reinstated for asylum seekers in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK.

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the current exemption from reporting requirements for asylum seekers.

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what notice period will be provided to asylum seekers before reporting requirements are reinstated.

Chris Philp: Reporting centres will only begin to open when social distancing and other preventative measures are in place to keep those that we require to report safe. Centres will only open in line with each of the four nations public health guidelines. 59811 Before inviting individuals back into reporting, case owners will assess cases based on the persons harm they pose to the public, their vulnerability and personal circumstances. 59812 All individuals required to return to a reporting centre will be given a minimum of seven days’ notice before their first appointment.

Visas: Coronavirus

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2020 to Question 40621, on Visas: Married People, whether she has plans to waive fees for visa holders applying for extensions to family visas who are unable to marry before those visas expire as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office has put in place a range of measures to support those affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. We continue to monitor the situation closely and take these exceptional circumstances into account. A fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner whose wedding or civil partnership is delayed due to COVID-19, can request an extension until 31 July by updating their records with the Coronavirus Immigration Team. (https://gov.smartwebportal.co.uk/homeoffice/public/ho_form.html) The family Immigration Rules currently allows for an extension of leave if there is good reason for a wedding or civil partnership not taking place during the initial six-month period of leave to enter. Restrictions on giving notice to marry or delay to a wedding or civil partnership due to Covid-19 will be considered a good reason under this policy. Applicants are still required to pay the application fee and charges. They may otherwise be eligible to remain on the basis of exceptional circumstances. These are unprecedented times and we may make further temporary adjustments to requirements where necessary and appropriate.

British Nationality: Syria

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will revoke UK citizenship for (a) family members of the Syrian President and (b) other members of the Syrian Government who hold such citizenship; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: I do not comment on individual cases.The Home Secretary can deprive individuals of their British citizenship where it is conducive to the public good to do so.

UK Border Force: Coronavirus

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the level of compliance with social distancing guidance of Border Force officials working at the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles to collect fingerprints from people found trying to enter the UK irregularly.

Chris Philp: All operational staff have always had the relevant Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) available to them, along with detailed guidance on how to safely deal with individuals who display coronavirus symptoms or where social distancing measures cannot be adhered to.PPE has been used in line with advice from Public Health England and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Immigration Controls: France

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Australian Border Force on the UK's border controls with France.

Chris Philp: The Home Office continues to monitor and evaluate its approach to border policy and keeps this under review. As part of this we consult with a wide range of partners on their implementation of border controls.

Immigrants: Finance

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to conduct a pilot project to assess the needs of migrant women with no recourse to public funds; on what basis the decision to carry out that pilot was made; and what the findings are of the internal review conducted by her Department into that matter.

Chris Philp: The Government committed to review its overall response to migrant victims of domestic abuse in response to the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill in June 2019. The evidence gathering phase of the review has been completed and detailed findings will be published by Commons Report stage. This will provide further information on the rationale behind conducting a pilot project to assess the needs of migrant victims with no recourse to public funds and the basis upon which the decision to carry out the pilot was made.

Cabinet Office

Physiotherapy: Coronavirus

Anthony Mangnall: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government will allow the reopening of private physiotherapy practices in line with the reopening of non-essential shops as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

Penny Mordaunt: Private physiotherapy practices were not required to close by law as part of the restrictions introduced to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Electronic Surveillance

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to counter threats posed by the use by foreign governments and other entities of commercially available cyber intrusion and other surveillance technology against UK citizens, companies and government departments.

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that commercial spyware and surveillance technology is not used by foreign governments against UK nationals.

Penny Mordaunt: The cyber threat landscape and tools commercially available to hostile actors are diverse, but the UK is clear that it will not tolerate malicious cyber activity and will react robustly and proportionately to the threat using the full spectrum of HMG capabilities at our disposal.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Centre for the Protection of Critical National Infrastructure (CPNI) provides ongoing advice and guidance for Government departments, Critical National Infrastructure, businesses, organisations and the general public.Working closely with industry partners and experts through campaigns like ‘Industry 100’, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Aware, they produce guidance and support that sets out protective measures that can be taken to protect against a range of threats and threat actors, including espionage and cyber-attacks.

Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingency Committee

John Spellar: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingency Committee was disbanded.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what date and for what reasons the Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingency Committee was disbanded.

Penny Mordaunt: The body referred to in the Hon. Members' questions was one of a number of sub-Committees of the National Security Council. Since July 2019, the National Security Council itself now consider matters relating to national security, foreign policy, defence, international relations and development, resilience, energy and resource security. This includes oversight of the National Security Risk Assessment. This administrative measure simply reflected a wider consolidation of Cabinet Committee sub-Committees.

Economic Situation: North East

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his oral response to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central on 16 June 2020, if he will publish the economic modelling on the effect on the North East economy in the event that a free trade agreement is not secured with the EU.

Penny Mordaunt: The economic impacts of our trade deal with the EU are already the subject of a thriving public debate.A Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS271) made by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 8 June updated on the progress of negotiations.We will continue to keep Parliament informed with appropriate analysis at appropriate times.

Coronavirus: Death

Grahame Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many workers employed on outsourced Government contracts as facilities management staff have died due to suspected covid-19 by (a) ethnicity, (b) job role and (c) employer.

Chloe Smith: The Cabinet Office does not hold this information.

UK Trade with EU: Small Businesses

Darren Henry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that a future trade agreement with the European Union will benefit small businesses.

Penny Mordaunt: The UK wants to start a new chapter in the history of our country, in which we move forward, unleashing the enormous potential of the British people. Leaving the EU will allow us to shape the UK’s economy in our best interests, including those of small businesses, and open up market access around the world with an independent trade policy.Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of our economy and we are committed to helping them to seize the opportunities that will become available when we strike new deals with our trading partners, including the EU.

UK Trade with EU

Darren Henry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) tariff and quota free trade with the European Union and (b) non-tariff barriers are kept to a minimum.

Penny Mordaunt: The Political Declaration sets out the aim for a zero tariff and zero quota Free Trade Agreement. We would like to achieve that. Reducing the costs and processes associated with trade is in the interests of people and businesses across the UK and the EU.

NHS: Ventilators

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to award further contracts under the ventilator challenge.

Chloe Smith: The Ventilator Challenge has been a resounding success, with four designs in production and over 8,500 devices delivered to the NHS. At this stage, there are no plans to award further manufacturing or design contracts through the Ventilator Challenge.

Mass Media: Coronavirus

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2020 to Question 58751, on Mass Media: Coronavirus, if he will he list of the titles that his Department has supported through the covid-19 public information campaign.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2020 to Question 58751, on Mass Media: Coronavirus, whether any conditions have been attached to the funding provided by his Department to support media outlets in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Chloe Smith: I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 46692 on 29 May 2020.

Department for International Trade

Liquefied Natural Gas: Mozambique

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she is making an assessment in addition to the UKEF environmental, social and health impact assessment of the implications for her policy on funding for the Category A Mozambique LNG project of (a) the correlation between gas industry activity and the level of covid-19 cases, (b) attacks on local villages and increasing violence and instability in the region and (c) other human rights issues.

Graham Stuart: The Mozambique LNG Project is still under consideration, and we cannot comment on potential transactions for reasons of commercial confidentiality. UK Export Finance (UKEF) carries out due diligence on all relevant aspects of a project before coming to a decision on whether to provide support. As the question acknowledges, the Government has already published a Category A notice which includes a link to an Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHR) of the Mozambique LNG project and related information. The Category A Notice is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/category-a-project-under-consideration-mozambique-lng-project/category-a-project-under-consideration-mozambique-lng-project UKEF has a specialist ESHR team that reviews relevant projects for such risks and impacts prior to UKEF taking a decision on support.

Department for International Trade: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much energy her departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade was formed in 2016 and only holds information relating to the financial years 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20, which is provided in the table below. Energy consumption by type (MWh) 2017/182018/192019/20Electricity non renewable 000Electricity renewable 1,7661,9281,989Gas 483538619Other Energy Sources 144227162Total energy consumption 2,3932,6932,771 The figures relate to our 55 Whitehall and 3-5 Whitehall Place buildings. Information for other buildings occupied by the Department, but where we are not the main occupier (including overseas), are not reported by the Department. Details of energy consumption for the Department’s buildings for 2017/18 and 2018/19 can also be found in its Annual Reports and Accounts which are published on GOV.UK (and, for completeness, the energy consumption details included in the 2018/19 Annual Report & Accounts differ from the above table because they were based on estimates that were available at the time of publication.) Figures for 2020/21 to date are not currently available.

Hydrogen: Exports

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to (a) promote the UK's hydrogen sector to international markets and (b) develop new export opportunities.

Graham Stuart: The Department for International Trade (DIT) is engaging with UK suppliers from the hydrogen industry, sector specific research centres and trade associations to understand the UK’s capability across hydrogen technologies. Officials have been raising awareness of the UK’s capability to our domestic and overseas networks, to enable the promotion of the hydrogen sector and support discussions with potential buyers. DIT undertakes a range of activities to support exports from the renewable energy sector, including in hydrogen. For example, earlier this year the Department participated in HyVolution in Paris, with a departmental representative giving a speech to attendees on UK capabilities in Hydrogen.

Open Individual Export Licences: USA

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish all end user data associated with Open Individual Export Licence 4P to the USA issued in 2015.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish all end user conditions associated with Open Individual Export Licence 4P to the USA, issued in 2015.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish the compliance record associated with Open Individual Export Licence 4P to the USA, issued in 2015.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many compliance visits have been conducted to date to monitor Open Individual Export Licence 4P to the USA, issued in 2015.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the US police response to Black Lives Matter protests in that country, if she will instruct her officials to carry out an urgent compliance visit to monitor Open Individual Export Licence 4P to the USA, issued in 2015.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The licence referred to and published on GOV.UK in the data for 1st July to 30th September 2015 as “4P”, permitting certain exports to the United States of America, expired in July 2018. Two compliance visits were conducted during the validity of the licence, but compliance records are commercially sensitive and cannot be published. The Rt. Hon. Lady will know that standard end user conditions for all Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) are available to view on GOV.UK and, under this licence, the exporter could only export to a government directly or companies using the listed goods in fulfilment of any part of a government contract.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Horseracing: Coronavirus

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with representatives from the Horserace Betting Levy Board on the (a) value of, (b) timeframe for applications to and (c) transparency of the Racing Relief Fund.

Nigel Huddleston: Following the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) decision to suspend racing on 18 March 2020, DCMS officials have been in regular discussions with the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) regarding support to British racing during the coronavirus outbreak. These discussions did not focus on the details of the Racing Relief Fund, which is an industry-led initiative led by the Racehorse Owners Association, with support from the Racing Foundation, in which the HBLB has no administrative or financial role. The £2.5 million fund was announced as part of the HBLB and Racing Foundation’s £28 million cashflow and support package announced on 17 April. This support package was developed collaboratively and it was agreed that the HBLB would focus on support for racecourses and the Racing Foundation on support for participants, both human and equine. The Racing Relief Fund is designed to meet the welfare needs of horses whose owners are suffering financial hardship. The scheme will provide up to £2.5 million of grants to assist with the costs of looking after horses in racing stables and in rehoming centres.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department’s energy is supplied by HMRC, from whom DCMS leases office space. DCMS has no buildings of its own. As such we have no direct contact or relationship with any energy suppliers.

Gyms and Sportsgrounds: Coronavirus

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to allow the reopening of outside gyms and sport pitches following their closure in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Nigel Huddleston: Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities, including outside gyms and sport pitches as soon as it is safe to do so. We are holding regular discussions with representatives from across the sport sector to develop guidance that will support them to open their facilities in a timely and safe manner once lockdown measures are eased. As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the criteria his Department plans to use for prioritising Official Development Assistance spending in the event of a decrease in GNI.

Mr John Whittingdale: To tackle and advance our Global Britain objectives, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ensures it takes evidence-based spending decisions and maintains high standards of programme delivery that are consistent with HMG best practice.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department's share of the Official Development Assistance will be reduced in the event of a decrease in GNI.

Mr John Whittingdale: The UK has a legal commitment to spend 0.7% of its gross national income (GNI) each year on Official Development Assistance (ODA). HM Treasury allocates ODA budgets to departments and is responsible for decisions on changes to these.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department is signing new funding agreements for projects from the Official Development Assistance budget.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Government reviews the ODA funding it allocates to projects on a regular basis in order to ensure delivery of its commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on ODA.

Boxing

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential risks to UK boxing of the announcement of the role of Daniel Kinahan in organising a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury; and what steps he is taking to raise concerns on that matter with UK based broadcasters.

Nigel Huddleston: The arrangements for sporting competitions are a matter for the relevant sporting bodies, and it is up to broadcasters to make decisions about which events they wish to cover.

Television: Licensing

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has any plans to review the BBC licence fee in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Mr John Whittingdale: A television licence is required to watch, record or receive television as it is broadcast live on any channel or online service. A licence is also required to watch or download live or on-demand content on BBC iPlayer. It is not a fee or charge for BBC services and is payable regardless of whether the licence holder ever watches the BBC. Licence fee revenue is not just used to fund the BBC, it is also used for other strategic public service objectives including funding the Welsh language broadcaster S4C. The Licence Fee is part of a funding settlement agreed with the BBC as part of the Royal Charter. The government has committed to maintain the licence fee funding model for the duration of this 11 year Charter period, until the end of 2027. However, we have been clear that, ahead of the next Charter Review process, we will undertake a detailed look at the future of the TV licence model itself. TV Licensing has said that it appreciates the challenges that many people face at the moment and it is working on ways it can provide further support. More information on how TV Licensing is responding to the COVID-19 situation on its website here: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/coronavirus.

BBC: Ownership

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of relinquishing Government ownership of the BBC to licence fee payers.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Royal Charter is the constitutional basis of the BBC which guarantees the BBC’s independence and provides the framework for how the BBC is governed and funded. The Royal Charter was renewed in 2017 for 11 years and the Government has no plans to review it before the next Charter Review, which is due to take place ahead of 2027.

Arts Festivals: Coronavirus

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made on the effect of the covid-19 on the financial sustainability of independent festivals.

Caroline Dinenage: In order to support the sustainability of the Arts sector, including independent festivals, DCMS has worked closely with Arts Council England (ACE) to provide a tailored package of financial support. In March, ACE announced a £160m emergency response package to complement the financial measures already announced by the Government, and provide financial support for Arts organisations and individuals so they can better sustain themselves, and their work, in the coming months. More than 9000 individuals and organisations have been successful in applying for this emergency funding. The Secretary of State, myself and officials continue to consult the sector extensively to ensure we fully understand the financial impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the sector. On the basis of that engagement, DCMS and ACE are continuing to work closely to consider the additional measures that are needed to ensure the long-term recovery and growth of the cultural sector. Alongside this, I chair the Cultural Renewal Taskforce which is supported by 8 ministerially-chaired working groups that include representatives from key sector bodies and organisations. The working groups will produce sector-led guidance for the safe reopening of events and businesses across the arts and creative industries sectors. Membership of the Entertainment and Events Working Group, chaired by the Minister for Digital and Culture, includes the Association of Independent Festivals and the National Outdoor Events Association.

Gambling: Coronavirus

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason Adult Gaming Centres were not allowed to reopen on Monday 15 June 2020.

Nigel Huddleston: While arcades are mentioned in the BEIS guidance on shops and branches published on 11 May, the government made it clear that a final decision on which premises would reopen on 15 June would be made nearer the time and would be based on the current situation and scientific advice. The government’s decision was that adult gaming centres, like other amusement arcades and leisure and entertainment venues, should remain closed at this time. These businesses differ from retailers in several ways, including the contact with hard surfaces which is a necessary part of playing their games. As detailed in the government's roadmap “Our Plan to Rebuild” the next phase of easing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions will begin no earlier than 4 July, subject to public health advice. My department is working through the next steps with the arcades sector in line with further announcements on the roadmap.

Leisure: Coronavirus

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when (a) soft play centres, (b) trampoline parks and (c) other leisure facilities will be allowed to reopen during the covid-19 outbreak.

Nigel Huddleston: Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so. The government has announced that indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities would remain closed but from 4 July other indoor facilities, including indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues would reopen. The Secretary of State has established a task force with the sport and leisure sector to help them become Covid-secure and re-open as soon as possible.As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.

House of Commons Commission

Parliamentary Estate: Coronavirus

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many hand sanitising stations there were on the Parliamentary Estate in each of the last five years.

Pete Wishart: Prior to March 2020 hand sanitiser was not centrally supplied or offered as standard. Individual departments (eg Security) sometimes had their own supply according to their requirements. In total there are 49 freestanding units and 28 wall-mounted dispensers across the House of Commons estate.

Parliament: Coronavirus

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many Parliamentary staff have tested positive for covid-19; what support is available to those staff members; and if he will make a statement.

Pete Wishart: Testing is available to all staff of the House where they or a member of their household are symptomatic. Testing is arranged directly by the individual, who then receives the results directly. The records held by the House will only indicate whether the member of staff is available for work or not. The full range of HR and wellbeing support remains available for staff at all times.

Northern Ireland Office

Hospitality Industry and Tourism: Northern Ireland

Simon Baynes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to support the hospitality and tourism industries in Northern Ireland to prepare for the lifting of covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Mr Robin Walker: The Secretary of State and I are working closely with Cabinet colleagues and the NI Executive to support businesses, including those in the tourism and hospitality sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recognising the exceptional circumstances faced by businesses across the country, the Chancellor announced an unprecedented package of measures to support businesses, employees and the self-employed. This includes government backed loans and direct support for wages, which are available to the hospitality and tourism sectors. In Northern Ireland, this is supplemented by additional support for businesses from the NI Executive following significant increases of approximately £1.3bn in the spending power of the Executive to enable it to respond to Covid-19. The Executive has used this additional spending power to deliver the £25,000 Business Support Grant to help protect jobs, prevent business closures and promote economic recovery across some of the most significantly affected industries, including hospitality and tourism. This is in line with the £25,000 Business Support Grants being delivered in England, Scotland and Wales where the Business Support Grants are available for eligible businesses within the hospitality and tourism sectors. The Government has been developing guidance to help tourism and hospitality businesses plan for social distancing and hygiene measures and the NI Executive is considering how this can be tailored to Northern Ireland. I am pleased that the NI Executive has published dates for the re-opening of the tourism and hospitality sectors in NI beginning with camping and caravan sites as well as self-catering accommodation on 26 June.

Northern Ireland Office: Energy

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much energy was used by his Department's buildings in (a) 2020 to date and (b) each of the last five years.

Mr Robin Walker: My Department is based in two leased sites, 1 Horse Guards Road, London and Stormont House, Belfast. In London, energy charges are included within the leasing arrangement from the landlord, Her Majesty's Treasury and my Department does not hold any figures for energy usage. In Belfast, energy usage is as follows: (a) 2020/21 to date: No energy usage figures are available for 2020/21. Invoices for Gas and Electricity are processed via the Landlord on a quarterly basis so no figures are available for 2020/21. (b)YearElectricityGas2015/16 850,490 Kwh22,803 m32016/17805,366 Kwh18,133 m32017/18 792,333 Kwh17,410 m32018/19687,639 Kwh22,155 m32019/20644,416 Kwh25,304 m3

Women and Equalities

Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups

Neil Gray: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if the Government will publish the reasons for the higher number of deaths from covid-19 among BAME people; and what steps she plans to take to reduce that higher number of deaths.

Kemi Badenoch: On 4 June the Government announced the next steps to address the disparities identified in the Public Health England (PHE) Report. As Minister for Equalities, I will be working with the Race Disparity Unit (RDU) and the Department for Health and Social Care to further understand the drivers of disparities. This includes commissioning further data, research and analytical work by the Equality Hub to clarify the scale, and drivers, of the gaps in evidence highlighted by the Report. This vital work will help the government take appropriate evidence-based action to address the disparities.

Equal Pay: Disclosure of Information

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when gender pay gap reporting will be resumed.

Kemi Badenoch: In recognition of the unprecedented uncertainty and pressure facing employers due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for 2019/20. However, employers can still choose to report their data and we have carried on providing support to those who need it. Over 5,500 employers have reported to date and more continue to do so.